For a Handful of Dollars… WHO Group Funds Biased and Erroneous Shisha Study in Pakistan

NEW PUBLICATION: by Qudsia ANJUM, Farah AHMED, Tabinda ASHFAQ: Knowledge, attitude and perception of water pipe smoking (Shisha) among adolescents aged 14-19 years. J Pak Med Assoc. 2008 Jun;58(6):312-7.

“This project was funded by the World Health Organization, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (WHO-EMRO) as part of their special grant for research in priority areas of public health during the year 2006. We are extremely grateful to all the respective authorities of WHO EMRO for their continuous supervision and liaison in relation to completion of this project.”

The official objective (refer to above link) was “to study the impact of educational intervention on knowledge, attitude and practices with regard to water pipe smoking among adolescents (14-19 years old) in Karachi.”

OBSERVATORY says: Like boggery !

Have a look at the stupid questionnaire (of course directly inspired by highly scientifically "validated" ones “designed” by the The ““Waterpipe””™ Specialized US-Syrian Centre staff and now disseminated as a “model” around the world and quickly gulped down by poor fishes in ““developing” countries” who choke on them further to our criticisms.

Example of item in questionnaire:

“Shisha café are playing an important role in promotion of water pipe” YES or NO ?

OBSERVATORY asks: Shouldn’t we rather say ““Waterpipe””™ is playing an important role in promotion of Shisha café” ?

Other items (Laugh ! You aren't in Wonderland !):

“Water pipe smoking makes boys more attractive” YES or NO ?

“Water pipe smoking makes girls more attractive” YES or NO ?

And the conclusion of the scientific analysis of all the collected data is, watch out !, that:

“The knowledge of the students regarding water pipe smoking improved after the health awareness sessions” ! Case Made !

See also that:

“Regarding health perceptions, the opinion of students to whether water pipe smoking is addictive increased after the intervention sessions (54% vs 68%; p<0.001).>Knowledge about water pipe is more addictive than cigarettes increased among students from 11% to 32% (p<0.001)>

Therefore, the objective of this study was chiefly to make students declare that shisha is more addictive than cigarettes ! Remember the world ““waterpipe””™ experts who have been declaring for years (until we put a sock in their mouths) that hookah smoking was MUCH MORE dangerous than cigarettes)!

Who’s standing behind the WHO funding ? Big Pharma ? And they call this Science ! WHO Tobacco Kontrol' “Science for All”, “Educating ignorant researchers in the so-called “developing countries”. Anjum and colleagues cite the WHO calamitous report on ““waterpipe””™ and other not less disastrous documents. Man, this was certainly a condition for the handful of dollars they have received from the WHO section there or whichever go-between…

They have also apparently taken great benefit from The Sacred Narghile and preferred to cite the latter instead of mentioning the hard publications of its consultant for scientific and international affairs. The reason is simple: he is the author of the above critiques ! Full stop beating about the bush Anjum !

In this , the technique is similar to the one adopted in other junk studies, particularly from the College of Nursing at Wayne State University (Detroit, USA): Linda WEGLICKI, Thomas TEMPLIN, Virginia Hill RICE, Hikmet JAMIL and Adnan HAMMAD. Comparison of Cigarette and Water-Pipe Smoking by Arab and Non-Arab-American Youth. Am J Prev Med. 2008 Aug 1

RELEVANT READINGS:

As if US air strikes on Pakistani civilian populations were not enough, the Observatary asks: Do Pakistanis need imported junk science ? Another previous junk study by Ali JAWAID from Pakistan:

The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Publishes a Junk Pakistani ““Waterpipe””™ Study and another one Citing a Junk Reference

Read other Pakistani good stuff from proud Pakistanis who know what a hookah and a shisha are and who are no puppets in the hands of foreign organizations with a dubious agenda for the world in general and their country in particular:

Ziauddin SARDAR's unpolitically correct message in The New Stateman (June 21, 2007): Let my son and me teach you how to smoke

DON'T MISS: Medical journal criticizes WHO for neglecting evidence

'This is a pretty seismic event. It undermines the very purpose of WHO.'—Lancet editor Dr. Richard Horton

Read diplomatic exchange of notes between our consultant and David BETTCHER in WHO:

WHO and Peer-Review Standards in Studies on Hookah Smoking


MOTTO
Pakistanis of the World, Free Thinkers and Independent Researchers of Low-Income Countries, Unite ! Resist Pressures ! Decolonize Your Colleagues' Minds ! Save your dignity and reject suspect funding just as others avoid what you call "Haram" ! Those who ask you to do this kind of biased research are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars per year while some of you are literally starving. Remember Jesus’ words: “Don’t Be Afraid !”

Image: Courtesy of Karachi Metblogs

YOU ARE NOT ON THE HOME PAGE of the OBSERVATORY on HOOKAH OR HEALTH (Narghile, "Waterpipe"™, Health, Risks, Dangers, Diseases, Tar, Nicotine, Cancer). CLICK HERE to go there !