Shisha Causes Cancer, Cardiovascular Diseases, Respiratory Infections, Nicotine Addiction….Health Expert

Experts of Cameroon Coalition for Tobacco Control, C3T have revealed that shisha, heavily consumed by youths in Cameroon today contains at least 27 substances that cause various types of cancer.

Shisha, also known as hookah or waterpipe is a tobacco product mixed with other hard liquores, often consumed through a bowl of water and into a hose-like pipe to be breathed in. It generally contains 28 percent of tobacco products associated with 70 percent of syrup liquid containing 50 percent of sugar as well as aromas of different types of fruits to hide the pungent scent of tobacco that deceives its consumers that all is well.

According to health experts, shisha can increase your risk of heart and circulatory diseases. This is because it usually contains harmful chemicals. Like cigarette smoking, shisha puts smokers at risk of developing heart and circulatory diseases, cancers, nicotine addiction, respiratory infections and conditions.

Tobacco smoke is made up of thousands of chemicals, including at least 70 known to cause cancer. These cancer-causing chemicals are referred to as carcinogens. Some of the chemicals found in tobacco smoke include: hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde, lead, arsenic, ammonia, radioactive elements, such as polonium-210, benzene, carbon monoxide, tobacco-specific, nitrosamines (TSNAs) and Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

The chemicals can make the walls of your arteries sticky, so fatty material can stick to them. If the arteries that carry blood to your heart get damaged and clogged, it can lead to a heart attack. If this happens in the arteries that carry blood to your brain it can lead to a stroke.

As a result, shisha smokers can be at risk of the same kinds of diseases as cigarette smokers. Pregnant women can also be at risk of the same kinds of heart and circulatory diseases.

Shisha usually contain nicotine which is addictive, causing its users to become addicted it. Nicotine is a chemical that makes your brain produce feelings of pleasure, but the effects do not last very long. When the pleasing effects wear off, you feel the need to smoke again to trigger the feelings of pleasure again. The more you smoke, the more nicotine you need to feel good which is how an addiction to nicotine can happen.

When asked, users of this product affirmed this fact, as they said that they have been trying to stop consuming it to no avail. “When I was told of the negative impacts shisha has on the body, i tried abandoning it on several attempts to no avail. What i have done now is that I have reduced the frequency at which I consume it, with the hope that i fully abandon it someday,” lamented Loica Boss.

With the above risk factors involved, one wonders why shisha is still highly consumed by youths today. In a bit to find out, most of them confess that they smoke shisha to “get high” and for self-satisfaction.

“I smoke shisha sometimes when we go clubbing. I mostly take it for fun and it is not like I take it on a routine. I like shisha because it brings a certain charisma in feel, and o feel confident while with friends. It also makes you feel high and that gives you the courage to do whatever thing you may want to do. If not, i don’t find any extraordinary thing in shisha,” explained Loica Bisa.

Prince Mpondo and Judith Chemuko, communication officer and Administrative Assistant of C3T respective said that according to the World Health Organization, shisha is smoked daily by more than 100 million persons, especially youths of 15 to 20years.

They disclosed that 50 draws of shisha at a session of one hour on the average, are equivalent to the smoking of two packets of cigarette. They said that the monoxide present in the shisha is seven times more in quantity than that in a cigarette smoke and contains polluting elements if about 15 to 52 cigarettes and as much target of 27 to 102 cigarettes.

They added that a shisha session is equivalent to smoking 20-30 sticks of cigarette and the numerous non-communicable diseases limited to the consumption of tobacco are also highly linked to the smoking of shisha.

Preventive Measures

According to Mpondo and Chemuko taxes are considered as sufficient tools to reduce its consumption, and its efficacity can be far reaching with shisha being consumed by vulnerable and underprivileged youths. Academicians are also called upon to carry out research and provide data on the shisha phenomenon that could clarify local decision makers.

To these experts, if the National Tobacco Control Law must adopt and promulgate a national tobacco control law for Cameroon,then it is in line with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, FCTC ratified by Cameroon on February 3, 2006.

Cameroon’s neighbouring counties like Chad, Congo Brazzaville and Garbon have already adopted national laws on tobacco control. Going by provisions of the FCTC, key elements of such laws must place a ban on smoking in all public places, insist on graphic health warning where images on the danger linked to smoking and text must accupy 70 percent of front and back pages of tobacco packages, ban on all forms of advertisement and sponsorship of tobacco, ban the sales of tobacco products to minors and the protection of tobacco control policies from tobacco industry interface.

Ingrid KENGNE