Oregon Not Alone in Confronting Rising Hookah Use
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NWHF Staff
| Posted on: May 31st, 2011
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Environmental Health •
Policies & Laws •
Public Health
Enticing sounding hookah flavors incude coconut, green apple and "sex on the beach"
You may have heard that the Oregon House voted to change the definition of “smoke shop” in the Oregon Indoor Clean Air Act, to address a loophole that has allowed hookah bars to proliferate. Now, in what has been called “the newest front in the ever-shifting war on tobacco,” the New York Times reports that state legislatures in California and Connecticut are also considering bills that would ban or limit hookah bars.
The article refers to a 2005 World Health Organization study that found water in hookahs filters out less than 5 percent of the nicotine. Hookah smoke contains tar, heavy metals and other cancer-causing chemicals, and the tobacco in hookahs is heated with charcoal, which leads to dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide, even for people who spend time in hookah bars without actually smoking.
Several studies have linked hookah use to many of the same diseases associated with cigarette smoking, like lung, oral and bladder cancer, as well as clogged arteries, heart disease and adverse effects during pregnancy. And because hookahs are meant to be smoked communally — hoses attached to the pipe are passed from one smoker to the next — they have been linked with the spread of tuberculosis, herpes and other infections.
Find out more about Oregon’s proposed law in the Lund Report.
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House Bill 2726 modifies the definition of smoke shops for the purpose of Oregon Indoor Clean Air Act. House Bill 2726, approved by the state of Oregon, would limit and restrict activity of hookah bars and lounges to prevent them from proliferating. This gives Oregon Health Authority to create a certification system for these shops. In the Lund report, author Amanda Waldroupe (2011) writes that the Oregon Health Authority will be the one responsible for establishing rules that regulates such places. According to the article, regulation include “smoke shops offering customers the ability to sample tobacco cannot serve food or beverages or offer the Lottery. Those under age 18 cannot enter, there’s a seating capacity of four, and the smoke shop must be a stand-alone business. Smoke shops can also change owners and move under certain conditions.” (Waldroupe, 2011).
I believe that this bill will lessen the effect of hookah lounges and smoke shops on people. As a non- smoker, I find what these places offer irritating. The unlimited, unrestricted access to these places makes them the center of hangout for teenagers. This, in return, can influence them to start smoking in such a young age, resulting in many lung diseases and other infections. Additionally, many medical researches have supported that hookah smoking is much more dangerous than smoking cigarettes because water filter less than 5% of its tar, leading to high exposure to tar and tobacco, resulting in major lung and arteries disease. Moreover, I think that these places might risk people’s health because it effects both smokers and non-smokers health. Lack in non-smoking areas in such places might jeopardize non- smokers health and expose them to many disease.
I believe that this article reflects on the Science, Politics, and Ideology in the Campaign Against Environmental Tobacco Smoke article we have read in the first week. The anti-tobacco campaign was established to reserve the rights of the non-smoking bystanders. Similarly, house bill 2726 protects non-smokers health, as well as the youth’s health, by issuing laws that prevent health consequences.
I defiantly agree with house bill 2726. I think that limiting hookah places and placing restriction in them will create a better, healthier place for us and for our children to live in.