More young Vietnamese hooked on shisha amid health warnings
Wednesday, March 18, 2015, 14:34 GMT+7
More youngsters, including those as young as sixth graders, have indulged in the addictive pleasure of smoking “shisha,” also known as Arab pipe tobacco, in Vietnam in recent years.
>> An audio version of the story is available here
“Shisha” has become a can’t-miss at tea and coffee shops which are typically frequented by young people in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and other large cities.
Shisha is an Oriental tobacco pipe with a long, flexible tube connected to a container where the smoke is cooled as it passes through water.
Groups of youngsters, including middle and high school students, are typically seen lounging in the rooms, which are often decorated in an Arab style, and pampering themselves over hookahs of shisha.
The shops generally supply shisha with different flavors, including watermelon, apple, kiwi, mango and pear, for around VND200,000 (US$10), or slightly more for a hookah.
There are currently no regulations in Vietnam banning the advertising and sale of shisha, and the addictive substance is considered illegal only when it is illicitly imported.
Police in Vung Tau, some 100 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City, on Saturday caught staff at a local coffee shop red-handed while they were selling shisha to two groups of students, mostly sixth graders.
The shop owner failed to show the police any relevant documents related to the shisha provided there.
The presence of sixth graders among the shisha smoking youngsters has triggered alarm among parents and those concerned.
A group of Vietnamese youngsters are pictured enjoying shisha, or Arab pipe tobacco. Photo: Tuoi Tre
‘Deadly’ misconception
A Google search of “where to smoke shisha in Vietnam” yields up to 470,000 results. Among them, many businesses sell and distribute shisha to clients across the country.
They offer a wide array of hookahs and shisha coal and aromas with tempting prices and claims that their goods are of premium quality and imported from Arab producers.
Many remain under the misconception that smoking shisha poses no harm to their health and is non-addictive.
In fact, the addictive substance exposes smokers to serious health dangers, which are similar to or even more sinister than those associated with cigarette smoking.
According to Dr. Nguyen Minh Tuan, vice head of the Mental Health Institute under Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital, shisha originated from India and then made its way to the Middle East.
He pointed to the many damaging effects on frequent users of the substance.
“It takes at least 40 minutes for users to enjoy a hookah of shisha, which means that 50 to 200 inhalations are made during the process. Accordingly, the amount of smoke which the body receives can top 0.15 to 0.5 liters, which is 100 to 200 times more than that absorbed by smoking a cigarette,” Dr. Tuan explained.
“The volume of nicotine which the shisha smoker absorbs is up to 75 percent higher than cigarette smokers’ intake of the toxic substance,” he noted. Dr. Tran Ngoc Luu Phuong, of Ho Chi Minh City-based Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital, concurred with Dr. Tuan, adding that shisha smoke contains a large amount of highly toxic CO.
Dr. Tuan added that it is scientifically groundless to claim that most of the harmful substances contained in shisha are filtered out through water.
“Shisha is harmful to adults and, needless to say, even more damaging to youngsters’ and early teens’ health,” Tuan stressed.
He also underlined that the use of shisha is more dangerous compared to cigarette smoking in that youngsters tend to coerce or lure others into trying it. Many cannot resist the temptation or tend to succumb to peer pressure.
Dr. Tuan also pointed out that more youths and drug dealers are putting illegal drugs like marijuana, ecstasy or cocaine in the shisha pipes.
Dr. Phan Quoc Bao, of the Ho Chi Minh City University Medical Center, stressed that the concoction of other addictive substances or synthetic aromas of unknown origins into shisha also puts users at great risk.
Some elements in certain synthetic aromas have been associated with cancer in respiratory organs, he pointed out.
Lawyer Nguyen Van Hau, deputy head of the Ho Chi Minh City Lawyers Association, urged that shisha be listed as a drug which is restricted or cannot be sold at all.
He added that several countries, including Singapore, have imposed bans on the substance for its adverse effects on locals' physical health and lifestyle.
In July 2013, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee suggested that the Ministry of Health propose the central government consider adding shisha to the list of contraband goods.
The proposal came after competent agencies detected the addition to shisha of substances with unclear origins and addictive, toxic elements which are banned from use.
A young man is shown smoking shisha through a pipe from a hookah at a shop in Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre
|
Health risks Shisha addiction can lead to diseases among regular users. According to a World Health Organization study, the risk of teeth and mouth diseases and lung cancer in shisha smokers is five times higher than in non-smokers. The content of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), the protein linked to certain cancers, including lung cancer, increases remarkably in shisha smokers’ blood. There are several other toxic compounds in shisha that constitute serious health hazards to long-term smokers, including vascular abnormalities such as stenosis, heart attacks, strokes, impotence, and low birth weight of infants born to smoking mothers. Shisha smokers can also suffer infectious diseases from their fellow smokers as they share hookahs and pipes, the WHO study revealed. Passive shisha smokers are also susceptible to such health problems. |
Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
