Devastating Hookah and Its Freedom Promises !

__

Don't miss on the French side of this site :Le narghilé et les promesses de la liberté...

Hookah and its Freedom Promises. How, beyond today's obscurantist "globalization", hookah is doomed to shape our future.

The post is based on comments on a seminal article by Roger Lesgards: Résister par la création culturelle [Resisting through Cultural Creation]. Le Monde Diplomatique, Dec. 2001, page 28.

Among other worthy quotes towards the end (free translation):

Neither Coca-Cola nor jeans nor Nike [The Observatory on Hookah or Health noted that the founders of The Sacred Narghile site recently agreed on also adding : "Facebook"!], nor even the Internet, will be able to reverse the trend. Nor will those networks of satellites pouring images and sounds everywhere.

Such a tragic trend will be overcome only through our personal ability to live shoulder to shoulder with the Other [The Observatory on Hookah or Health added there: “Never forget the multi-century rite of passing the suction hose around - always to the right!” and “Never smoke alone (or not so often..)!”]. This ability just means open-mindedness and the Other as a part of ourselves…

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!

Bertrand Dautzenberg, France’s Top Antismoking Expert (and also a Renowned Plagiarist) Co-Authors Study on «Third-Hand Smoke»

It is well known that antismoking researchers do not hesitate to rely on gross exaggerations, lies and manipulations of statistical data (numerous examples in Table of Contents) with the objective of touting or speeding up bans on smoking (Prohibition) In the United Kingdom, many will remember that the best example is given by ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) who, a few weeks before the national ban (July 2007), disseminated a communique based on an interview with two major «« waterpipe »»™ antismoking experts : Wasim Maziak and Alan Shihadeh

>> ASH (Action on Smoking and Health). ““Shisha 200 times worse than a cigarette” say Middle East experts””. 27 March 2007 (prepared by Martin Dockrell)(accessed 13 June, 2008)

Sub-heading: “Three leading experts from across the Middle East have warned that excluding “shisha bars” when England goes smokefree on July 1 could worsen the grave inequalities in health that already affect ethnic minorities.”

In France, before our summer holidays humm...., Bertrand Dautzenberg, plagiarist and president of the national antismoking agency “OFT” (Office Français du Tabagisme)[sort of French ASH], came up with a new study he has co-authored:

Becquemin MH, Bertholon JF, Bentayeb M, Attoui M, Ledur D, Roy F, Roy M, Annesi-Maesano I, Dautzenberg B. Third-hand smoking: indoor measurements of concentration and sizes of cigarette smoke particles after resuspension. Tob Control. 2010 Aug;19(4):347-8.

« What this paper adds » (according to the Tobacco Kontrol journal, not us !) Guess what ?

>> « This study is the first to investigate the hypothesised resuspension of deposited particles of tobacco smoke (‘thirdhand smoke’) » !

Third-Hand Smoke was first “discovered” by tobacco experts investigating cigarettes. So far, no ««waterpipe »» expert has mentioned Shisha Third Hand Smoke, so we’ll refrain from commenting in a field that is not ours. We give below two sources that will be enough for those who wish to undertstand at least what it is about. For information though, First-hand smoke is the one inhaled by the cigarette smoker. Second-hand smoke, the side one (the one that goes up in the air between two puffs).

>> Kabat G. Is “Thirdhand Tobacco Smoke” a Valid Scientific Concept or a Public Relations Gimmick ? The Columbia University Press Blog 2009 (09 January)

This issue is of importance as it appears that hundreds of thousands of dollars will be spent to fight it...

>> Siegel M. California Taxpayers to Spend a Quarter Million Dollars Studying Effects of Thirdhand Smoke Dust on Skin. The Rest of the Story - Monday, August 09, 2010

OTHER RELEVANT READINGS

Concerning Bertrand Dautzenberg and plagiarism:

A recent supporting editorial by the Editors of Tabaccologia, a peer-reviewed biomedical journal about tobacco smoking:

>> Editors : Plagiarism in biomedical sciences: a bad habit that needs to be rooted out [Il plagio in campo medico-scientifico: un malcostumbre da estirpare]. Tabaccologia 2009;4:5-7 [English and Italian].

>> Plagiarism in tobacco research (by Kamal)

>> An open letter against plagiarism and plagiarists. Tabaccologia 2009; 1: 46-7 (by Kamal)

>> Editions Margaux-Orange (Paris) funded by Big Pharma, and publishing plagiarism:

Bertrand Dautzenberg and Jean-Yves Nau: Tout ce que vous ne savez pas sur la chicha . Paris, Margaux-Orange/OFT (Office Français du Tabagisme), 2007.

Image: Courtesy of Mimifrou

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 !

URGENT Call to Sign Petitions for 775% Hookah Tobacco Tax & Saving Village of New Paltz (NY) from Propane Oxygen Lit-Hookah Disaster

FIRST PETITION

The “Stop the Hookah” Lobby warns that the village of New Paltz (NY) is in jeopardy further to hookah lounge activity in the area:

Please sign the petition.

The pressing issues at stake are (abridged quotations):

« SMOKING KILLS - and smoking a Hookah is just as deadly […]”

“NICOTINE IS POWERFULLY ADDICTIVE - in fact it's one of the most addictive substances on earth […]”

“A 45 MINUTE HOOKAH SESSION IS LIKE CHAIN-SMOKING FIVE PACKS OF CIGARETTES - According to a World Health Organization advisory, a typical one-hour session of hookah smoking exposes the user to 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette. Even after passing through water, tobacco smoke still contains high levels of toxic compounds, including carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens).”

“HOOKAH SMOKING IS INSIDIOUSLY DANGEROUS - Unlike cigarette smoking where most people's first experience is generally unpleasant […]”

“SAFETY DEMANDS THAT SMOKING SHOULD BE STRICTLY FORBIDDEN WHERE OXYGEN IS IN USE - yet the Village Planning Board have actually granted a Special Use Permit for an Oxygen Bar & Hookah Lounge. Add to this the fact that the building for which the permit was approved uses PROPANE heating fueled by a 500 GALLON ABOVE-GROUND TANK. These three elements (Propane, Oxygen and a source of ignition) are all that is required to power a rocket motor or disaster of truly epic proportions!”

“THERE ARE VERY REAL CONCERNS THAT THE HOOKAH LOUNGE WILL BECOME A HANGOUT FOR DEALERS & USERS OF ILLEGAL DRUGS - there are definite connotations of recreational drug use associated with hookahs, water-pipes and bongs and the shisha (tobacco/herbal mixture) smoked in hookahs is often 'spiked' with alcohol, marijuana and/or other legal, but nonetheless mind-altering herbs, such as Mugwort, Wormwood & Salvia”.

SECOND PETITION

Another anti-hookah agricultural Association calls to sign a petition for a 775% Hookah Tobacco Tax ! You're dead ! HERE

Fighting Prohibition, its Commercial Interests & the Passive Smoking Fraud : Hookah “Smoking Ban Debate Rages On” in Chapel Hill, NC (ABC)

__
Chapel Hill, NC (ABC): "Adam Bliss, the owner of Hookah Bliss, says the law is unfair, and is threatening his business of two-and-a-half years." […] "Bliss says he will fight the ban all the way to court."

Full Story (plus video) HERE

RELEVANT READINGS

Hookah Bliss 'to stay open' (Herald Sun)

Hookah Bars in Paris Fight Smoking ban. Abdelkader El-Ahmer, Owner of Houara Lounge, Is a World Hero in Tobacco Prohibition Times

Is Medical Concern about Hookah Environmental Tobacco Smoke Hazards Warranted ? [A Tribute to Gian Turci, who has recently passed away] The Open General & Internal Medicine Journal 2009; 3:31-3.

Hookah (Shisha, Narghile) Smoking and Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS). A Critical Review of the Relevant Literature and the Public Health Consequences. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2009; 6(2):798-843.

UK Ban on Smoking in General and on Hookah Smoking in Particular Should Not Stay. RR, British Medical Journal 2009 (18 Mar)


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 !

Joanna in Wonderland. Anti-Fruit Smoking Activism at the US-American University of Beirut

Just published in the anti smoking "Tobacco Control" journal : The tobacco health nexus ? Health messages in narghile advertisements

by Joanna KHALIL (JK) and her friends (Robin L HEATH, Rima T NAKKASH, Rema A AFIFI) from the US-American University of Beirut

COUNTERPUNCH

J.K. and friends said: "Research on the narghile smoke constituents suggest it is as harmful—if not more harmful—than cigarettes"

OBSERVATORY on Hookah or Health : This is dead convincing, particularly when one of the cited sources is the unspeakable calamitous WHO flawed report (2 errors in its first 2 sentences...). What is not notified to the reader is that this report was prepared by Alan Shihadeh, and "peer-reviewed", among others, by Ghazi ZAATARI who both are colleagues of Joanna Khalil at the US-American University of Beirut.

JK and friends : "Recently, narghile smoking has become ‘‘big business’’ and a variety of marketing techniques are being used to emphasise the enjoyable facet of smoking while disregarding its detrimental health effects."

OBSERVATORY on Hookah or Health : This is true. See our story: CNN “Social Smoke” Business Success Story by Iranian Born Hookah Entrepreneur: Ain’t a Dig at WHO Treaty on Tobacco Control (FCTC) ?

As for the "detrimental health effects", how do you want these people to rely on the poor biased "science" produced by your university ?

JK and friends : "One interesting marketing technique has been the use of health messages to market narghile products (…) For example, in one advertisement for locally manufactured tobacco, the slogan ‘‘untouched by human hands’’ was used as an indicator of ‘‘the purity’’ of the product. In addition, the product was shown to be manufactured in state-of-the-art machines (…)".

OBSERVATORY on Hookah or Health : Joanna, my dear, you are wrong. “‘‘Untouched by human hands’’ means that the company (Eastern Company) is actually using an automatic line based on state-of-the-art machines as you rightly point out. This is all there is to it. By contrast, the narghile smoking machine of your colleagues at the US-University University of Beirut was tampered by human hands and is actually the source of the world confusion, the well known exaggerations (1 narghile session = 100, 200, …900 cigarettes, etc.):

BBC NEWS: Shisha 450 Times Worse than Cigarettes, New Research Reveals. Swine Flu Link Now Established

Because of their behaviour, they must be accountable for the 10-year delayed public health intervention.

JK and friends : "Simultaneously, two advertisements for a type of charcoal used to light the narghile charcoal embers were advertised as being ‘‘natural’’ and made of ‘‘100% coconut shell’’, smokeless, odourless and ‘‘free of chemicals.’’”

OBSERVATORY on Hookah or Health : No, Joanna, a charcoal can’t be used to light the narghile charcoal embers. If you wanna become a narghile expert, first you must go downtown Beirut (Al-Hamra Street, for example) and ask the staff of any cafe there how the charcoal of a narghile is lit...

JK and friends : “One of these advertisements ends with the comment that not a single tree was cut down to produce the charcoal (fig 1). Narghile smoking is highlighted as safe and environmentally friendly. The brand name furthers this image by using the prefix ‘‘eco’’ thus conferring eco-friendly legitimacy on the image of narghile smoking."

OBSERVATORY on Hookah or Health : So what ? These people are trying to do their best and certainly this new charcoal is safer and more environment-and-Earth-friendly than the quick-lighting one used in the biased smoking machine of your colleagues.

JK and friends : "Although the above two examples specifically mention the health aspect of narghile, other messages are more tacit. For instance, in an advertisement for a brand of mo’assel, the fruit flavoured narghile tobacco, what first hit your eye is the fresh watermelon, constituting the background of the ad (fig 2). Although the photograph of the narghile is shown on the left of the ad, the mouthwatering fruit is impossible to miss. This watermelon, and the other fruits that indicate the different available flavours, make narghile seem as healthy as the fruits."

OBSERVATORY on Hookah or Health : Woaw ! What a breath-taking sociologist you and your friends are ! At least, instead of citing erroneous bibliographic sources to support these statements, why didn’t you review the existing sound literature ? From a prehistoric date, narghile has maintained a close relation (a love affair) with fruits. You would also have found that the word “narghile” itself derives from the name of an exotic fruit… Indeed, narghile users know this. They are the experts, not those appearing in the parroting media…

JK and friends : "As suggested by the specific examples above, the myth of the narghile smoking being less harmful than cigarette smoking is being exploited by a new tobacco industry.”

OBSERVATORY on Hookah or Health : First, this tobacco industry is not new. It is very old. Then, the myth of narghile smoking being MORE harmful than cigarette smoking is being exploited by a recent anti-tobacco industry whose main operational base is the antismoking journal Tobacco Kontrol in which you got your paper published.

JK and friends : This new spin on the image of the narghile (…). In light of the current weak policy and regulatory framework for tobacco control in Lebanon, a serious commitment from health stakeholders and advocacy groups is mandatory to counter these false claims."

OBSERVATORY on Hookah or Health : What is needed is countering the false claims and pseudo-science supposedly but actually deceivingly "peer-reviewed", pouring from biased antismoking journals like “Tobacco Control”.

The Middle East doesn’t need artificial wars. Aren’t you tired of wars there in Beirut ? Or we would be tempted to think that you defend foreign interests after UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) has recently considered in its last report (2009) that narghile smoking poses a threat to "Arab Human Development Security" (sic).

JK and friends : “Funding: This paper was supported by a generous grant from Research for International Tobacco Control, an IDRC secretariat.”

OBSERVATORY on Hookah or Health : Yes, they are more and more ““generous”” as you would say. Why don’t you add that your RITC is linked to Big Pharmaceuticals ?

“It should noted, however, that among the advertised “Strategic Partners” of the latter [The “North American RITC (Research on International Tobacco Control; Canada)], the names of two multinational pharmaceutical companies appear after a list of world antismoking organisations: namely, Glaxo-Wellcome/Smith Kline Beecham and Merrck-Frost” (Revealed in “UK Ban on Smoking in General and on Hookah Smoking in Particular Should Not Stay” (Source: Lift the UK Ban on smoking)

JK and friends : “Competing interests: None”

OBSERVATORY on Hookah or Health : In view of all the above, do you confirm ?

“Tobacco Control” Editors : “Provenance and peer review: Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.”

OBSERVATORY on Hookah or Health : This is news to us. By whom ? The antismoking friends of the Globalink antismoking "model village"(sic) ? The same who "peer-reviewed" the calamitous WHO report and its recycled laundered version, the Cochrane Review?

IMAGES (commented in this article and appearing above)

Source: Joanna Khalil et al 2009 (who should have requested the permission from the "pro-smoking" "new tobacco industry" in Lebanon to reproduce them in an anti-smoking biased journal)


ACCOUNTABILITY

As a new narghile expert, Joanna KHALIL is, as all others, accountable for what she says in public (here a n official publication)


CONCLUSION

As for JK and friend's call for immediate regulation in line with the the brain Formatting Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC) cooked by the same Globalink people, it is not an innocent statement. Health officials of any government will refer to this kind of "scientific" stuff to overrride their own bills and constitutions. This is also the objective of the Lisbon Treaty that any conscious citizen should reject for the same reasons.

This is a vicious circle, one of the many tricks used by antismoking organizations to maintain control over medias and governments. Also, other antismoking researchers will publish further articles citing Joanna Khalil and friends' paper. Then, they will pretend -as they have been doing with cigarette passive smoke, E-cigarette smoke, etc. - that there would be "overwhelming evidence" that narghile smoking is dangerous and must be banned. Remember the WHO slogan “Rigorous research leaves no doubt” (that tobacco second-hand smoke kills. There would be a world supranational expert consensus. You're dead and you can's utter a word of dissent.

Resist here and now !

RELEVANT ARTICLES

Narghile smoking keeps researchers in Wonderland (medical journal)

The Birth of a New Profession: Anti-Fruits Smoking Activist (Observatory)

Narghile, Sex and the US-American Univer-City of Beirut... Tobacco Control, Prostitution and the City of Bombay... (Observatory)

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 !

Powerful Collaboration with the California’s Clean Air Project: "Hookah in Your Community: Ideas for Action"

The Observatory on Hookah or Health is happy to announce a powerful collaboration with the California’s Clean Air Project. Here are the mainlines of the project titled "Hookah in Your Community: Ideas for Action", originally designed by ETR Associates.

EXCERPTS:

“Currently, there are over 90 hookah venues in California [Now, there are hundreds]. Their growth has tripled in the past three years. The primary concerns over hookah are both health-related and compliance-related (Labor Code 6404.5, The California Smoke-free Workplace Law). If you have questions about hookah […] or need further assistance, please contact CCAP (California’s Clean Air Project) at 916-452-8065" (page 3)

"When a hookah smoker is exposed to hookah smoke (the addictive stimulant nicotine) for 45–60 minutes, it is the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes" (page 4)

"Hookah tobacco contains the same chemicals found in all tobacco, including nicotine, carcinogens and nitros[a]mines. Secondhand hookah smoke contains the same cancer-causing particulates found in secondhand cigarette smoke. In addition, the charcoal used in the tobacco heating process produces the toxin, carbon monoxide" (page 4)

Diana Bonta, Director, California Department of Health Services-July 21, 2003: “The use of hookah pipes is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking. Smoking hookah pipes has been reported to cause oral, oesophageal and lung cancer as well as heart disease, chronic bronchitis and of course, nicotine addiction” (page 4)

"All bona fide retail tobacco shops are exempt from the California Smoke-free Workplace Act (Labor Code 6404.5) and may allow smoking inside an enclosed workplace. A hookah venue that serves food and/or beverages for consumption on the premises does not meet the definition of a tobacco store. Therefore, it cannot claim an exemption from the Smoke-free Workplace Act and allow smoking indoors. Obtaining a tobacco retail license from the State of California allows a hookah business to sell tobacco. However, such a license does not allow for smoking of the product inside a workplace where the Smoke-free Workplace act otherwise prohibits smoking.

“A ‘tobacco store’ is defined as a retail business that meets all of the following requirements: (A) Primarily sells tobacco products. (B) Generates more than 60 percent of its gross revenues annually from the sale of tobacco products and tobacco paraphernalia. (C) Does not permit any person under 18 years of age to be present or enter the premises at any time, unless accompanied by the person’s parent or legal guardian, as defined in Section 6903 of the Family Code: (D) Does not sell alcoholic beverages or food for consumption on the premises”" (pages 4-5)

"Violation of municipal codes regarding disturbing the peace – behavior of young and underage hookah customers who have over indulged at the pipe and vomit on sidewalks and streets in front of and near hookah establishments" (page 6)

"Another relevant California code, Health & Safety Code 113775, states: “Food means any raw, or processed substance, ice, beverage, including water, or ingredient intended to be used as food, drink, confection, or condiment for human consumption.” This code section is relevant because it further stipulates that hookah pipes cannot be smoked indoors where food is consumed and cannot be used in any enclosed area" (page 9)

Note: "Hookah tobacco and cigar tobacco contain the same chemicals found in all tobacco, including nicotine. Secondhand hookah and cigar smoke contain the same cancer-causing chemicals found in secondhand cigarette smoke" (page 11)


IDEAS FOR ACTION (page 10)

"# Are you concerned about hookah venues in your community ? In California, there are hookah bars, cafes and lounges that may not be compliant with the California Smoke-free Workplace Law Labor Code Section 6404.5. The following ‘Ideas for Action’ are ways to learn more about these venues and how to improve compliance with the law in your community".

"# An excellent activity for staff and coalition members to do together or separately: Visit each hookah venue in your community and stay for at least 30 minutes. Order something to eat or drink if available, sit down, and just observe what is going on. Are pipes being smoked indoors or outdoors? What is the average age of the customers? Is food being served? Are beverages being served? Do you see minors present? Are minors being allowed to smoke hookah pipes ? How is the tobacco being sold, by block (large) or square (small) ? Is there a hookah menu or advertisement about how much the tobacco or pipe rental costs? If so, pick up a copy. If you feel comfortable, ask the proprietor if hookah is smoked indoors or outdoors. Please pass this information onto CCAP (contact information below)."

"# Create a database of hookah venues for county or the cities in your area. Include the name of the establishment, address and phone number. With this information you are assisting statewide tobacco control organizations who are collecting this data; you are also helping your local law enforcement agencies."

"# If you have received complaints about a hookah venue, contact local law enforcement and ask them to investigate. Give them any information, activity reports, or complaints you have collected. Inform them of the law and how hookah venues are affected by Labor Code Section 6404.5."

"# Tell law enforcement officers that free hookah tobacco testing is provided by CCAP. Officers are often told by proprietors that hookah tobacco is not really tobacco or that it is only a fruit mu[a]ssell product. Testing will prove that there is nicotine content in the tobacco."

"# Submit a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Tell about the health dangers of smoking hookah tobacco and the addictive qualities of hookah tobacco."

"# Use the fact sheet in this packet to support your efforts."


An excellent study by Kamlesh Ashotra: "What You Don’t Know Can Kill You" (pages 12-16)

Quoteworthy: "It is becoming increasingly clear that, like tobacco smoking, mainstream hookah smoke and second-hand hookah smoke cause deleterious effects on reproductive systems in men and women and produce genotoxic, mutagenic, and teratogenic effects on babies of smoking parents.These effects include infertility in females and sterility of males, and low birth weight 26, 27 and birth defects in babies born to smoking mothers. A recent study of 100 Egyptian infertile women determined that the couples’ infertility was due to sterility of husbands who were hookah smokers.

High concentration of CO is a major component of second-hand smoke from hookah. The contribution from burning charcoal in hookah may also have significant and deleterious effects on young babies that may be exposed to mild CO levels. Even at very low levels, such as 25 to 50 parts per million parts of air, CO can produce permanent damage to the inner ear in young babies and irreversible loss of hearing" (page 14)

Download full Document (heavy pdf) from
California’s Clean Air Project
877-388-Ccap (2227). 2210 21st Street, Sacramento, CA 95818. The United States of America. A project of ETR Associates

Banning Hookah Lounges City after City with Your Help, Yes We Can !

Vista (California): City to Ban Tobacco Lounges

Menifee (California) Considering Banning Hookah Businesses

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 !

Shoe Throwing Journalist and World Hero Muntazer Al-Zaidi, Harbinger of Coming Hookah Hurlers ?

Muntazer, the Iraqi Living Spirit of French May 68
PROJECT: A letter to French President Nicolas SARKOZY to ask him to award Muntazer Al-Zaidi the Legion of Honor and appoint him Minister of National Identity.

“A journalist hurled two shoes at President George W. Bush on his farewell visit to Iraq on Sunday, highlighting hostility still felt toward the outgoing US leader who acknowledged that the war is still not won.
Muntazer al-Zaidi jumped up as Bush held a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, shouted "It is the farewell kiss, you dog" and threw his footwear”
(Baghdad, AFP Dec 14, 2008).

« While Bush successfully ducked, Muntadar al-Zeidi’s accompanying remarks must be entered in the TV Hall of Fame as well and admired for brevity, although most of the news accounts truncated them, and distorted them. He [Muntazer] said: "This is a gift from the Iraqis. This is the farewell kiss, you dog," Steven Lee Myers of The New York Times reported in a pool report to the White House press corps.

Myers reported that when the man threw the second shoe, he added: "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq." Needless to say outrage over Iraqi victims of this war has been missing in most of the media for most of the war.”

SOURCE: Journalist Confronts Bush In Baghdad With EMMY-Winning Throw (Danny Schechter)

"Bush: One of the Worst Disasters to Hit the US"
> Most famous VIDEO of the world (in any case, for the -always forgotten- rest of the planet)

> Muntazer (“Muntathar”) being beaten (with a broken arm and in hospital ?):

“Muntathar means "awaited" in Arabic [!] referring to Imam AlMahdi and since we are in it, he was kidnapped by AlMahdi army [Note: a Shii militia] at November 2007 and tortured then released after paying the ransom and some say he didn't pay any ransom.”

See The Sacred Shoe (by Last-of-Iraqis, the blog of an Iraqi dentist)

CALL TO NEW US PRESIDENT
Mr Obama, if you were sincere (and we believe you were and still are) and if you don’t want to be the unfortunate target of some angry hookah hurler in the future, you know what all peoples of the world expect from you right now:

Stop civilian bloodshed everywhere by a quick withdraw of all your troops, not only from Iraq but also from Afghanistan and other places. Right ? Put also an end to all embargos implemented in the past (that on Iraq itself has caused a death toll of over 1 million civilians). This way, Mr Obama, crowds will be throwing at you roses everywhere you go.

[added Jan 2, 2009] No need to waste more time ! We’ve got the deceiving response now:
Obama's Silence on Gaza is Deafening (Ben Cohen: Dec 29, 2008)
As War Ravages Gaza, Silent Barack Works on Golf Game (Jason Ditz: Dec 30, 2008)

THE SCIENTIFIC MEDICAL EVIDENCE SUPPORTING MR MUNTAZER AL-ZAIDI’ STATEMENT ABOUT IRAQI WIDOWS AND ORPHANS
"This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq !" (Muntazer Al-Zaidi)

A study published in the Lancet in 2004 found that “100000 excess deaths, or more have happened since the 2003 invasion of Iraq” [1][that is, up to the date of the study: September 2004]”. The researchers also found that “most individuals reportedly killed by coalition forces were women and children”[1].

Our consultant for scientific and international affairs had once the opportunity to comment on this study: “However, another important question deals with the parties directly responsible for the gloomy situation in the Middle East. What about the destruction of dozens of thousands of lives in the name of freedom and democracy ? Some researchers, not necessarily native of the region we are talking about, while sitting comfortably in front of our computers, have recently acted with moral gumption to tackle this taboo issue, the third one [1].”[2]

In a second study less than 2 years later, the same medical team found that “as of July, 2006, there have been 654 965 (392 979-942 636) excess Iraqi deaths as a consequence of the war, which corresponds to 2.5% of the population in the study area”[3].

[1] Mortality before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: cluster sample survey. Lancet. 2004 Nov 20-26;364(9448):1857-64.
[2] What Taboo Research Areas in Middle East Health ? E-Letter to the Editor of the British Medical Journal 2006 (1 Dec). A critical analysis of: Maziak W. Health in the Middle East. BMJ 2006;333;815-816.
[3] Burnham G, Lafta R, Doocy S, Roberts L. Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey. Lancet. 2006 Oct 21;368 (9545):1421-8.

The Anthropological Evidence that Asian and African Peoples Love Peace-Minded US-Americans and Vice-Versa
For 10 years now, US Citizens are mad about the Oriental way of smoking, passing time and socialising: hookah smoking.

The Rising Allure—and Danger—of Hookah, by Lindsay Lyon (US News & World Report, Posted January 2, 2008)
What’s smokin’: water pipes, by Janet Cromley for Los Angeles Times (Nov 12, 2007)

So, please ask your President-Elect to go Iran, India, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Pakistan, Syria, and Venezuela and Cuba also, etc. and establish a definitive sustainable World Peace there by sharing a few hookah puffs with his counterparts. Indeed hookah (narghile, shisha) happened to be more than the Middle East Peace Pipe. Just like Muntazer Al-Zaidi is not a Middle East hero but a world hero, the hookah is the World Peace Pipe. This is an anthropological truth. Read seminal visionary article:
« La nargileo, pac-pipo de la Meza Oriento : Antropologia Interpreto pri gxia Interparolada, Tempa kaj Luda Aspektoj »
[Narghile, Peace Pipe of the Middle East: an Anthropological Interpretation of its Conversational, Temporal and Ludic Aspects]

OTHER RELEVANT RESSOURCES
“I don’t advocate violence, even in response to violence, much less as substitution for words, and yet it seems to me that al-Zeidi has restored the good standing of journalists in the world. He’s punctuated his brief editorial with a statement in the universal language of television. A cream pie would have helped but would probably have tipped off the Secret Service to his plans. With the toss of two shoes, this journalist communicated more honest information to more people than a thousand New York Times exposes on aluminum tubes or expert commentaries on the Pentagon paid for by the Pentagon.”

“… I recall these two actions only because it occurs to me that people often walk by the White House with shoes on their feet that could perhaps be put to better use.”
SOURCE: David Swanson, from Let’s Try Democracy

+++++++++
“The brave Iraqi journalist Montadhar Al-Zaydi has shown to the world the emperor is naked. He’s been now taken hostage in his own country by the sectarian Quisling government of the Green Zone. Not only should he be released immediately; he must be honoured by any decent human being as a hero. Please, sign this petition in his favour now”
SOURCE: Gabriele from The Cat’s Dream

+++++++++
“Muntazer al-Zaidi's was a J'accuse! for the Iraq genocide, a J'accuse! of an entire People against an ongoing genocide and the silence and hypocrisy around it. The entire world could understand those words, those shoes and their meaning; the entire world but Jonathan Steele, who seems to be on the Moon.”
SOURCE: Gabriele Zamparini

+++++++++
Across the US, many people have begun displaying old shoes as a sign of solidarity with al-Zaidi . Shoes are being hung on mailboxes, put out on posts, mounted on pickup trucks, and allegedly also being mailed to the White House"...

+++++++++
Iraqi who threw shoes at George Bush hailed as hero - Times Online

Happy New Year 2007 ! Welcome to the Empire of Global Lies, Hatred, Online Horror and on the Air !

100,000 Iraqi civilians dead, says study (The Lancet)

Just Foreign Policy (Iraqi Death Estimate)

Iraq Body Count

Shoes Remindful of a Narghile near the Syrian Border…

(source AP/Swissinfo.org, 24 May 2004): All these nice people, including the baby, were killed during this wedding ceremony in the village of El-Qaim, near the Syrian border after the invaders shelled this "den of terrorists". The following day, observers could see pieces of a broken lute and fragments of narghiles scattered here and there...

Images (3 former) : Courtesy of Uruknet and The Sacred Shoe

[note: updated Dec 17, 18, 19]

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 !

Anna Purdy’s Touching and Sincere Testimonial. How, as an Ex-Hookah Smoker, She Eventually Realized How Bad Her Habit Was

In a touching and almost heartbreaking personal account published in NewsObserver Nov 10, Anna PURDY first considers herself “a generally healthy person”. She says she tries “to eat well and exercise” and informs us that she’s not a cigarette smoker.
“But throughout college and until recently, I would enjoy getting together with friends and splitting an apple- or mint-flavored hookah on the weekends”. However, she realized one day that smoking anything has health consequences. Let’s see her terrific list:

“Although most businesses sanitize the mouthpieces after each use and distribute plastic covers to customers, there are documented cases of herpes transmission".

[The Observatory on Hookah OR Health confirms that there are also documented cases of AIDS transmission]

"*In addition, secondhand smoke [that is Passive Smoking] from hookahs is just as dangerous as second-hand smoke from cigarettes."

[The Observatory confirms this statement and would like to add that in the World Health Organization 2005 report prepared by the world top experts on this issue (Thomas EISSENBERG, Alan SHIHADEH, Wasim MAZIAK and Kenneth WARD), it is said that:

“Second-hand smoke from waterpipes […] poses a serious risk for non-smokers”.

The WHO report supports its statement by a study (in fact a mere review but let’s call it a study here) carried on by the same team. It is absolutely error-free and there cannot be any room for doubt:

Maziak W, Ward KD, Afifi Soweid RA, Eissenberg T. Tobacco smoking using a waterpipe: a re-emerging strain in a global epidemic. Tobacco Control 2004; 13: 327-333.

Those who have criticised this publication and the WHO report are baddies and nothing but ill-intentioned nitpickers and ill-mannered roasters]

Anna PURDY: “Many reputable institutions have done studies" and “Their findings are alarming”:

"* The American Academy of Periodontology states that water pipe smokers are five times more likely than nonsmokers to show signs of gum disease."

[The Observatory on Hookah OR Health confirms this]

"* A 2005 World Health Organization study advisory states that a typical one-hour session of hookah smoking exposes the user to 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette."

[again]

"* Thomas Eissenberg, a psychology professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and co-author of a hookah study, says that a hookah, smoked by and individual for about 45 minutes; delivers 36 times more tar, 15 times more carbon monoxide and 70 percent more nicotine than a cigarette"

[Thanks, Anna. This is the top !]

"* A 2004 American Cancer Society study found that men who smoked hookahs had five times [that is 5 TIMES] the risk of lung cancer as nonsmokers."

[The Observatory on Hookah OR Health understands that Miss Anna PURDY certainly refers to an article by Tom Henshaw Hooked on the hookah (Town Online 2006, Jan 11). Unfortunately or strangely enough, the page ain’t there anymore…

Anyway, the Observatory confirms the established link between Lung Cancer and Hookah Smoking and is pleased to offer an alternative though working link : recent study on this hot issue ]

CONCLUSION
The Observatory on Hookah OR Health is an advocate of this kind of prevention based on scientific evidence and the related sound peer-reviewed scientific studies. We hope Anna PURDY’s repentance will be followed by all hookah addicts of the world. Please circulate her testimonial and let 2009 be the year of the end of the war declared in 2001 by the devilish hookah to the civilized world.

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 !

The Invention of Hookah (Shisha, Narghile) «Passive Smoking» through Repeated Scientific Misconduct and Fraud. Lebanon & Syria

Communiqué (Mar 26, 2008):

The Invention of Hookah (Shisha, Narghile) « Passive Smoking » through Repeated Scientific Misconduct and Fraud (A Necessary Step for the Tobacco-Free Earth Geo-Political Agenda)

SUBJECT: comment on a "study" by the joint US-Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies (chief investigators: Wasim MAZIAK, Kenneth WARD and Thomas EISSENBERG) published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research, a journal supposed to be “peer-reviewed”...
See most recent case: The “Nicotine and Tobacco Research” Journal Endorses a Scientific Error as Big and Carcinogenic as a Yemeni Narghile Bowl !


“Second-hand smoke from waterpipes […] poses a serious risk for non-smokers (8)”

[(8) Maziak W, Ward KD, Afifi Soweid RA, Eissenberg T. Tobacco smoking using a waterpipe: a re-emerging strain in a global epidemic. Tobacco Control 2004; 13: 327-333]

> SOURCE: The WHO Erroneous report on ““waterpipe”” tobacco smoking”
_____
« Fî qahwé ‘a-l-mafraq ; Fî mawqidé u fî nâr ; Nebqâ ’enê w-hebîby ; Nefreshhâ b-’el-’asrâr... »

[There is a coffee-house there by the crossroad, with a brazier and some fire. I used to stay there with my love, carpetting its walls with secrets]

> Lebanese singer FEYROUZ (cited in doct. thesis on narghile, footnote 511)

Keypoints:

-Hookah produces NO side-stream smoke

- Hookah smoke is 13.2 times LESS concentrated in CO (Carbon Monoxide) than cigarette smoke

- Hookah smoke is 6.4 times LESS concentrated in PM10 particles than cigarette smoke

- Hookah smoke is 3.5 times LESS concentrated in PM2.5 particles than cigarette smoke

- Hookah smoke 2.8 times LESS concentrated in ultra-fine particles than cigarette smoke

- CO in non-smokers exposed to hookah smoke does not change before and after a hookah session

- the first victim of “passive smoking” is the smoker her/him/self, not the non-smoker

CONCLUSION: Hookah “passive smoking” (ETS: Environmental Tobacco Smoke) is a scientific Fraud

IMPORTANT NOTE (added 28 March 2008) about another HUGE FRAUD: The cigarette used in the laboratory experiment was not an "ordinary" one but a Gauloise Light, said by the ETS "experts" to be "the most common cigarette used by study subjects"… (sic)

Since ventilation holes in light cigarettes DECREASE UP TO 10 TIMES PARTICLE CONCENTRATION, ALL the above related figures should be multiplied by 10 !

_____________________________________________
"Second-hand tobacco smoke (SHS) refers to the smoke from burning tobacco products, generated by people smoking them." [SOURCE: WHO (World Health Organization) Report: Smoke-Free Inside. World No-Tobacco Day 2007 (page 3)]

Since the smoking product in the hookah bowl does NOT BURN but is only heated (below 200°C) , these studies are, to start with, in blatant contradiction with WHO’s definitions…
_____________________________________________

CALL: Syrian, Lebanese and all peoples of the world, unite against public health foreign interventions based on pseudo-science !


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

“Hookah (shisha, narghile) “Passive Smoking” is a Fraud [Le « tabagisme passif » du narguilé est un leurre]

COMMUNIQUE IN ENGLISH March 26, 2008 [added material]:

The Invention of Hookah (Shisha, Narghile) «Passive Smoking» through Repeated Scientific Misconduct and Fraud (A Necessary Step for the Tobacco-Free Earth Geo-Political Agenda)]

Image: World Health Organisation

WHO World No-Tobacco Day 2007: Towards a tobacco-free Earth… After cafes, next target will be: homes, cars, gardens, cities, counties, states, countries, continents and eventually Earth.

QUOTEWORTHY: “rigorous research leaves no doubt” !

RELEVANT READINGS:

Tetralogy of Hookah World Premieres Now Complete with Pioneering Study on Hookah and Cigarette Passive Smoking (Environmental Tobacco Smoke)

Hookah ETS (Environmental Tobacco Smoke) for Beginners

The Satanic Verses of Hookah and Passive Smoking (1st Part)

May 1968-2008 in Paris: Police is Here to Stay (Paris, 40 ans après Mai 68: la police (de la pensée, pseudo-scientifique, ...) est toujours là...)

Seven Thousand Billions of Ultra Fine Smoke Particles in a Single Hookah (Narghile, Shisha) Session and Yet their Users are Still Alive…

Official "Waterpipe"™ “Experts” Launch Star War against Shisha (Hookah, Narghile) Smoke Particles

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

The Satanic Verses of Hookah and Passive Smoking (1st Part)

On the eve of the 40th Anniversary of May 1968 Events in Paris, local health officials, in a neo-McCartyst move, are pushing police to enforce a pseudo-science based ordinance against hookah lounges. In this context, we invite free-thinkers to contemplate a few censored satanic verses about hookah smoking and environmental tobacco smoke ("passive smoking"):

"When passed through water (50 cm3), the combustion gases of cigarette smoke have no inhibitory effect [on the respiratory epithelium cilia]. Water fixes in a remarkable way the active agent whose solubility appears to be the main reason of such a fixation […] This solution is all the more active that the smoke of a greater number of cigarettes is bubbled though. Therefore, the active substances are concentrated in the water."(p. 420)

"The widespread use of narghile [hookah, shisha] among peoples of the Middle East, which makes smoke bubble through water, empirically secures its purification. One can understand this way how they [these peoples] can, without apparent disorders, smoke dramatically greater quantities of tobacco than ours in our countries "(p. 423)

SOURCE: Work carried out by the Laboratory of Applied Physiology to Sub-Marines. CEPSM Marine, Toulon (France). A team led by R. Guillerm, Chief Medical Officer of the Laboratory.

PUBLICATION: Guillerm R, Badré R, Vignon B. Effet inhibiteurs de la fumée de tabac sur l’activité ciliaire de l’épithélium respiratoire et nature des composants responsables [Inhibitory Effects of Tobacco Smoke on the Respiratory Epithelium Ciliary Activity]. Académie Nationale de Médecine 1961 (13 juin):416-23.

ORIGINAL IN FRENCH : « Les gaz de combustion d’une cigarette après un barbotage dans un volume d’eau d’une cinquantaine de centimètres cubes n’ont plus aucune action inhibitrice. L’eau fixe donc d’une façon remarquable l’agent actif, dont la solubilité semble devoir être la cause principale de cette fixation […] Cette solution est d’autant plus active qu’on y fait barboter la fumée d’un plus grand nombre de cigarettes. Donc il y a bien concentration dans l’eau des substances actives. » (p. 420)

« L’usage largement répandu chez les populations du Moyen-Orient du narghilé, qui réalise un barbotage de la fumée dans l’eau, en assure empiriquement l’épuration ; on peut ainsi comprendre qu’elles puissent fumer sans troubles apparents des quantités de tabac plus considérables qu’on ne le fait dans nos pays » (p. 423).

The Observatory on Hookah and Health is ready to cite and comment in detail numerous examples of this kind, be it in a justice court or in any public free debate.

READ ALSO on this site:

Tetralogy of Hookah World Premieres Now Complete with Pioneering Study on Hookah and Cigarette Passive Smoking (Environmental Tobacco Smoke)

Hookah ETS (Environmental Tobacco Smoke) for Beginners

“Hookah (shisha, narghile) “Passive Smoking” is a Fraud [Le « tabagisme passif » du narguilé est un leurre]

Seven Thousand Billions of Ultra Fine Smoke Particles in a Single Hookah (Narghile, Shisha) Session and Yet their Users are Still Alive…

Official "Waterpipe"™ “Experts” Launch Star War against Shisha (Hookah, Narghile) Smoke Particles

May 1968-2008 in Paris: Police is Here to Stay (Paris, 40 ans après Mai 68: la police (de la pensée, pseudo-scientifique, ...) est toujours là...)

A Tribute to Ernst L. Wynder and Dietrich Hoffmann. The Narghile Decade (other previously revealed Satanic verses)

Image : National Library of Medicine

Attention : Vous n'êtes pas sur la page d'accueil de l'Observatoire Narguilé et Santé (Chicha et santé, Narghilé et santé, Shisha et santé)(Cancer, nicotine, goudrons, monoxyde de carbone, etc.). Cliquez ICI pour y retourner.