Cigarette & Shisha Smoking Trend in Pakistani Youth

Days have gone, when smoking cigarette in Pakistan is a man’s hobby, it’s now girls who joins the race of inhaling toxins through Shisha Smoking, Also known as narghile, shisha and goza, a hookah is a water pipe with a smoke chamber, a bowl, a pipe and a hose.

Trend of `shisha’ smoking has Increased in mass Pakistani Rural Youth. A survey of 450 students of aged between 16-30 found that 64.% of males and 37.9 % of females had smoked a `shisha’ at least once in their lifetime; 77.3 percent of males and 33.3 percent of females smoked a `shisha’ regularly.
Tobacco is responsible for 100,000 deaths annually in Pakistan. The number of female smokers in their teens and twenties has increased rapidly. This itself is been alarming that youngsters & especially females of well off background has been adapting it as a fashion, on the other hand, unawareness of parents is also playing a vital role in enhancing “Shisha smoking”. Since having “Shisha” becomes fashionable… it is very hard to change the trend. Peer pressure and the need of the young to do something new all play a part of deliberately accepting “Shisha Smoking”.

It’s has been falsely assume that, tobacco is no less toxic in a hookah pipe, and the water in the hookah does not filter out the toxic ingredients in the tobacco smoke, Hookah smoke contains high levels of toxic compounds including tar, carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens, same as cigarettes, In fact, hookah smokers are exposed to more carbon monoxide and smoke than are cigarette smokers.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Pakistan’s population of 200 million includes 22-25 million tobacco smokers; 40 percent of adult males and 11 percent of adult females smoke. About 70,000 people die annually from tobacco-related diseases in the country.
Since “Shisha Smoking” is been penetrating rapidly in Pakistani Social Circles & been termed as Safe Tobacco, it is interesting to mention that there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco. Any exposure to tobacco smoke weather in Shisha – even an occasional cigarette or exposure to second-hand smoke – is harmful and that damage from tobacco smoke is immediate.
It is now necessary to adopt Appropriate and efficient measures to prohibit “Shisha smoking” and it been the responsibility of Parents & government to take appropriate measures against “Shisha Smoking” as this will not only prevent deaths but also curtail heavy expenditure incurred on diseases caused due to consumption of tobacco and its bi-products.

By Altamash Jawaid