Dubai, June 8 (ANI): Shisha cafes or hookah lounges could be banned in residential areas of Dubai if a new proposal revealed by the Gulf Symposium on Tobacco Control is approved.
Dr Wedad Al Maidour, head of the National Tobacco Control Programme and director of Primary Health care Centres from the Ministry of Health, Dubai, said policies to control shisha tobacco production, distribution and consumption have been proposed.
"Shisha cafes will no longer be allowed to operate in residential areas. We expect to ban several cafes once the policy is passed," the Gulf News quoted Al Maidour, as saying.
"Shisha smoking is dangerous, but teens tend to think of it as an opportunity to socialise, and consider it as a cool experience. Unfortunately it is being marketed with labels like 'herbal' and 'fun'," she pointed out.
She explained that the proximity of cafes in and around residential complexes poses a serious risk to residents, especially youth.
She also said the Ministry wanted to deter people from using shisha smoking cafes as meeting hubs and dissuade them from smoking for long periods.
Dr Fayez Basta, head of smoking cessation services of the Tobacco Control Programme, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia, revealed the long-term dangers of shisha smoking, saying a daily shisha smoker could inhale nicotine equivalent to a person smoking two cigarettes a day. (ANI)
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