Ghana to ban shisha smoking by mid-year
The Principal Research Officer of the GHS, Divine Darlington Logo says a research conducted by his outfit showed that most youths have ditched the smoking of traditional tobacco cigarettes for e-cigarettes and shisha.
The research revealed that that the rate of smoking shisha and e-cigarettes among young people has shot up to 5.3 percent, higher than the traditional use of tobacco which stands at 2.8 percent.
Mr Logo in an interview on the sidelines of the 17th World Conference on Tobacco or Health held in Cape Town, South Africa revealed that the GHS was collaborating with the Ministry of Health to secure a ban on shisha this year.
He said research on the smoking of shisha had revealed that one puff from a shisha tube equalled the smoking of an entire cigarette.
"All the effects of smoking are in shisha and electronic cigarettes, so FDA does not have that regulation right now to control shisha and that of electronic cigarettes," Mr Logo lamented.
He added: "However, we working with the Ministry of Health now to ban shisha and electronic cigarettes now in Ghana, Shisha use is more harmful than cigarettes, one puff from that tube is equal to one full cigarette that you smoke.
"So it is more dangerous than cigarette, so with that alone as far as public health is concerned we using that alone to ban it from Ghana, I can assure you by the middle of this year surely that has to be done".
What is shisha?
Shisha – also known as ‘hookah’ or a ‘water pipe’ – is tobacco that’s usually fruit-flavoured, and smoked through a glass-bottomed pipe filled with water.
A porcelain attachment is topped with flavoured tobacco, covered with foil, and then heated with roasted charcoal.
Shisha’s origins are disputed – it’s thought to either originate from India, Persia or Turkey – but in any case, it’s now really popular in the UK.
Source: Dailygraphic
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