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

Completing the 3 first elements (Critique of the Flawed WHO Report, Study on Cancer Aetiology and Study on Radioactivity), the last component of the Tetralogy of Hookah World Premieres is now published in English and Open Access (full text free):

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

50 pages of hard and debunking scientific facts to offer to your local Prohibition agent (FULL TEXT FREE). Table of contents (useful) here:

ABSTRACT

Hookah (narghile, shisha, “water-pipe”) smoking is now seen by public health officials as a global tobacco epidemic. Cigarette Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) is classically understood as a combination of Side-Stream Smoke (SSS) and Exhaled Main-Stream Smoke (EMSS), both diluted and aged. Some of the corresponding cigarette studies have served as the scientific basis for stringent legislation on indoor smoking across the world. Interestingly, one of the distinctive traits of the hookah device is that it generates almost no SSS. Indeed, its ETS is made up almost exclusively by the smoke exhaled by the smoker (EMSS), i.e. which has been filtered by the hookah at the level of the bowl, inside the water, along the hose and then by the smoker’s respiratory tract itself. The present paper reviews the sparse and scattered scientific evidence available about hookah EMSS and the corresponding inferences that can be drawn from the composition of cigarette EMSS. The reviewed literature shows that most of hookah ETS is made up of EMSS and that the latter qualitatively differs from MSS. Keeping in mind that the first victim of passive smoking is the active smoker her/himself, the toxicity of hookah ETS for non-smokers should not be overestimated and hyped in an unscientific way.

EXCERPTS

A “serious risk” for Non-Smokers (WHO report) . Yes or no ?

“In view of all the above described distinguishing traits, a central objective of the present review is to determine whether hookah ETS [Environmental Tobacco Smoke, i.e. “Passive Smoking”] represent a “serious risk” to non-smokers. It is recalled, once again, that what is at stake here is “passive smoking”, not active smoking. The latter has also been surrounded by a wide confusion. Consequently, the focus of the present review is on EMSS.” (page 808)

An Experiment Anti-Tobacco Organizations Did Not Want You To Know About

“Three decades ago, Russell et al. carried out a famous artificial experiment in which 20 volunteers spent about 78 minutes seated in an unventilated smoke-filled room of about 43 c.m. (15x12x8 ft). Eighty cigarettes and two cigars were burnt or smoked. The average ambient CO concentration reached 38 ppm. Thanks to COHb monitoring, the researchers concluded that “the amount of inhaled CO by non-smokers as a result of their exposure to ETS was about the same as would be expected if they had actively smoked and inhaled one cigarette”[105]. Other researchers have performed a more realistic although “acute natural exposure” experiment in which seven non-smokers were exposed to tobacco smoke under natural conditions for two hours in a public house. They found that the increase in expired CO of 5.9 ppm was similar to increases in smokers after a single cigarette [101]. Scherer et al. measured an active/passive ratio of CO varying between 2.7 and 4.2 (40 mg-400 mg / 14.4 mg-96 mg) [Table 3] [100]” (page 819).

So what ? A mere question of smell and odors ?

“Perhaps the only problem regarding hookah ETS might be odours. Experts had once noted that “although many people dislike the smell of burning tobacco, there are some who enjoy it” and added that “this is especially true of cigar or pipe smoke, which nevertheless contain higher concentrations of irritants than cigarette smoke” [74]. In the case of heated flavoured (apple, strawberry, rose, etc.) tobacco-molasses mixture (moassel/tobamel), it is noteworthy that non-smokers do not feel bothered by the smoke [2]. The only problems reported so far are social nuisances caused by the smell of flavours, particularly in urban settings.” (page 832)

Will US Americans Go on Smoking in 2010 in spite of Prohibition ?

“Citing a report of the Institute of Medicine (2001), a recent paper concludes that: "While prevention and cessation is the most effective way to eliminate the health risks of cigarette smoking, the use of cigarettes and other tobacco products will continue. In spite of stringent smoking restrictions in the United States, it is expected that, in 2010, approximately 10–15% of the adult population in this country will not be willing or able to give up tobacco consumption (Institute of Medicine, 2001). For these people it is most important to develop products of harm reduction" [26].” (page 832)

For researchers in Humanities: Environemental Tobacco Smoke in Italian and French literature...

Social and Human sciences are very important in this field. Don’t they say that smoking distinguishes humans from animals ?

« Qui venivano gli amici, e anch’essi si buttavano e, come diceva Muscarà, s’abbiavanu e sdavacàvanu, sui pagliericci e le ciambele di cuoio, rimpiendo presto la camera di un tale fumo di sigareta che, dal balcone socchiuso, i passanti vedevano uscire una sorta di lenzuolo grigio palpitante nell’aria. Fumo, caffè, e liquori... » (Vitaliano Brancati, 1940)

« ...sous les treilles aux pampres frais, sous les glycines, sous les platanes; des narguilés par myriades, le long des rues, exhalaient leur fumée enjôleuse. » (Pierre Loti, 1904)

FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS ON COMFITS OF INTERESTS...

Of course it is a “study flawed from the outset” or “fatally flawed” and there is obviously a pressing “need for clarification on comfit of interest” .... In any case, this is “irresponsible journalism” … and, in modern speak, ”DENIALISM” ...

Those under the influence of the above and other professional defamers (Wasim Maziak, Thomas Eissenberg, Kenneth Ward, Alan Shihadeh, Brian Primack, Michele Walsh, Cindy Bryce), undercover and proxy agents (Matthew GELFAND, “student” from Brown University, etc.), witch hunters (Pascal Diethelm, etc.) and other plagiarists and liars, are kindly requested to go:
THERE and contemplate Section 13 in particular. Good Bye.

RELEVANT READING

Denialism, Hookah Environmental Tobacco Smoke, and the «Overwhelming Consensus on the Evidence». Eur J Public Health; Feb 17, 2009


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 !

Pakistani-French Team Publishes Historic Study on Hookah Smoking and Cancer

Interviewed over the phone, one of the authors -who is by chance our consultant for international and scientific affairs- said he had no comment. However, we have received later this morning the following cryptical communiqué from his secretariat:

What may happen to exclusive/ever users who, for decades, have been smoking: “only hookah (no cigarettes, bidis, etc.), prepared between 1 and 4 times a day with a quantity of up to 120 g of a tobacco-molasses mixture each (i.e. the tobacco weight equivalent of up to 60 cigarettes of 1 g each) and consumed in 1 to 8 sessions” ?

The answer can be found online, and for free, with the Harm Reduction Journal in which the study was published:

http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/5/1/19

Ad hoc linguistic versions are available for your friends who cannot read English (not a crime but a world norm !): Chinese Spanish French Arabic Russian English

Therefore, we understand that this unexpected original study, the first ever done on this issue, confirms the findings of a previous one commented in our columns one semester back:
Revelations about Hookah and Cancer

We have also noted that the new study contains even more satanic verses about Hookah and Passive Smoking Such a metaphor refers to the scientific findings published in early studies (Fifties, Sixties, etc.) led by the most prestigious and independent tobacco experts of the world (Ernest Wynder, Dietrich Hoffmann, and many others).

Nonetheless, these official documents have been systematically swept under the carpet by the WHO (Word Health Organization) ““waterpipe””™ “experts, particularly Wasim MAZIAK, Thomas EISSENBERG and Kenneth WARD, who are, as our returning visitors now know, authors of a series of other "historic" reports: 7 FATAL Errors in WHO report

Cochrane Review Scientific Credibility Stained by "Waterpipe"™ Group

Most recently, they have tried to sell to the drugged planet the huge scientific fraud about Hookah "Passive Smoking" ("Environmental Tobacco Smoke") in the name of which assaults on civil liberties have been witnessed all over the world...

Dismissing the academic and scientific work of world tobacco and cancer experts qualifies for Scientific Misconduct, not less. This fault also bears a name in biomedical edition: Publication Bias (See COPE: Code of Conduct for Editors of Biomedical Journals )

For instance, you will see in the study on Hookah Smoking and cancer how Dr Angel ROFFO’s pioneering study on the narghile filter was NOT cited by Robert PROCTOR in a “review” of his work supposed to be comprehensive.

The historic study warns however: “If traditional hookah smoking, as exemplified by the Pakistani context, has fewer carcinogenic effects than cigarette smoking, it is important to bear in mind that it still produces smoke. What is hazardous with tobacco use is the smoke, not the tobacco itself. In other words, smoked tobacco is much more dangerous than tobacco used in other forms as renowned scholars have early warned…”

So, folks, take care because the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is not, unlike Hookah “Passive Smoking” , any human invention. Just keep in mind that: BREATHE IS LIFE (*) as our friend has been recalling -againt the enemies of public health- for one decade now.

(*) note that this motto -as well as the "Tobacco Control" phrase- have sometimes been tarnished by hardline anti-tobacco organizations.

Image: courtesy of Paktribune

#######################################
[MATERIAL ADDED 19 SEPT 2008]

SUBJECT: VIOLATION OF EDITORIAL ETHICS BY JPMA (JOURNAL OF PAKISTAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION)

The authors of the first etiologic study on hookah and cancer were not allowed by the above journal to respond to a Letter to the Editor by Wasim Maziak. Fortunately, they had the opportunity to do this with the other journal in which they published their second study (Harm Reduction Journal, a truly independent journal, which does not accept any external pressure):

The authors stated: "We were informed only by chance of the existence of a previous comment by Maziak on our first study. Consequently, we sent a detailed response to JPMA on the 7th of April 2008. In spite of our good faith, and for some unclear, reason, the journal did not accept to publish our short and right-to-the-point letter whereas it published Maziak’s comment with no delay. This is certainly a violation of editorial ethics [5]."

[5] COPE, the Committee on Publication Ethics, is “a code of conduct for editors of biomedical journals”, “a suggested code of conduct for editors to guide them towards being fair to authors, researchers, and readers”

SOURCE: REBUTTAL: INTRODUCTORY KEY-POINTS to Our Reply to Purported “Methodological Problems…” (16 June 2008)

#######################################


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 USA, Smokeless Tobacco (SNUS), Narghile (Hookah), and Us [L’Amérique (US), le tabac sans fumée (SNUS), le narguilé, et nous...]

A short critique of the Expert Report on Smokeless Tobacco Prepared for the French Surgeon General: DGS (Direction Générale à la Santé) de France

The corresponding communiqué highlights risky liaisons between hookah and smokeless tobacco (SNUS).


Communiqué (original in French with English version): HERE

Image : courtesy of Swedish SNUS

Note: article foredated on purpose

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 « Anti-Tobacco » Industry Crimes. Owner of Houara Hookah Lounge in Critical State as He Enters 4th Week of Hunger Strike

A martyr of Big Pharma (*) and its stooges in the most influent media whose clear role is to nip in the bud any scientific debate on a huge mystification: Hookah "Passive Smoking". As for cigarette "passive smoking", the huge exaggeration (3000 times) was already smoked out by world prominent experts ( here )

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

Original in French: Les crimes de l’industrie «anti-tabac». Le gérant d’un salon de thé parisien [Abdelkader El-Ahmer], en grève de la faim depuis 4 semaines, se trouve dans un état critique

(*) RELEVANT TO BIG PHARMA DICTATORSHIP: Prostitution of Tobacco Control Science and Policy: World Conference on Tobacco or Health Accepts Big Pharma Sponsorship (Pr Michael Siegel, March 13, 2008)


Not to mention gross exaggeration about hookah smoke while most of the latter is made up of WATER... and GLYCEROL (known to have no biological toxicity and not included [even as a footnote..., for obvious reasons] in the world anti-tobacco industry' calculation of "TAR" [the so-called "nicotine free dry particulate matter"]).

Not sure ? Read THIS

Any fair and independent tobacco scientist knows that what is important in this field is not Quantity but Quality. What kills people in tobacco is NITROSAMINES and RADIOACTIVITY.

> Where are the anti-tobacco industry' studies on these issues ? Its only obsession for almost 10 years now is (for obvious reasons) the "NICOTINE-ADDICTION" FRAUD originating in a US SURGEON GENERAL report (1988).

> The Anti-Tobacco industry is now recruiting social scientists to help "DEGLAMOURIZE" and "DENORMALIZE" hookah smoking :

Check the scientific level, LAUGH OR CRY: "Being male, older, unmarried, and non-Middle Eastern White predicted current cigarette smoking; being Arab or Chaldean and having less formal education predicted current water pipe use."

SOURCE: Jamil H, Templin T, Fakhouri M, Rice VH, Khouri R, Fakhouri H, Al-Omran H, Al-Fauori I, Baker O. Comparison of Personal Characteristics, Tobacco Use, and Health States in Chaldean, Arab American, and non-Middle Eastern White Adults. J Immigr Minor Health. 2008 Mar 3 [Epub ahead of print]

OTHER FUNNY CASE (involving the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation):

Smith-Simone S, Maziak W, Ward KD, Eissenberg T. Waterpipe tobacco smoking: Knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behavior in two U.S. samples. Nicotine Tob Res. 2008 Feb;10(2):393-8.

>> READ More about the methods adopted by the Nicotine and Tobacco Research journal:
The “Nicotine and Tobacco Research” Journal Endorses a Scientific Error as Big and Carcinogenic as a Yemeni Narghile Bowl !

Stephanie SMITH-SIMONE, the main author, states she works for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Do you want to know more about this foundation ? CHECK OUT Pharmaceutical Multinationals: Buying Governments, Selling Antismoking (see also the RWJF Grants 1992-1999)

No use to introduce Dr SMITH-SIMONE's three colleagues of the “Waterpipe”™ group and main investigators a the joint US-Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies …

QUOTEWORTHY (of course, we will not make a review of numerous errors): “The final distinctive feature of waterpipe tobacco smokers from this U.S. sample is related to risk perceptions. Although sizable proportions of all populations studied in the EMR believe waterpipe to be less harmful and addictive than cigarettes (Asfar et al., 2005; Varsano, Ganz, Eldor, & Garenkin, 2003; Ward et al., 2005), U.S. waterpipe tobacco smokers were much more likely to believe that the likelihood of addiction and experiencing deleterious health effects was very low. For example, 49% of waterpipe users among Aleppo University students believed that waterpipe was more harmful than cigarettes (Asfar et al., 2005) compared with only 3% in this study sample.”


The answer to this “enigma” is VERY SIMPLE:

>> In Syria, smokers and students are under the direct influence, in Arabic, of the propaganda elaborated by the joint US-Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies

while,
>> in the US, hookah users and students are under the direct educational influence, in English, of the propaganda elaborated by The SCAred Narghile and the Observatory on Hookah OR Health…

OUR MOTTO: "DEGLAMOURIZE" and "DENORMALIZE" NEO-LISSENKOIST "WATERPIPE"™ PIRE-REVIEWED SCIENCE, FIRST !


[update April 26, 2008: Hookah Bars in Paris Fight Smoking ban. Abdelkader El-Ahmer, Owner of Houara Lounge, Is a World Hero in Tobacco Prohibition Times ]

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 !

Shocking ! Two Well Regarded Scientists Go Beyond All Acceptable Limits by Giving Tips to Hookah (Narghile, Shisha) Smokers !

In the last issue of the International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Hala Tamim and her colleagues conclude that:
“Narghile smoking more than once per day increases the odds of low birthweight by a 2.4-fold compared with nonsmokers, although to a lesser extent than cigarette smoking.”

SOURCE: Tamim H, Yunis KA, Chemaitelly H, Alameh M, Nassar AH; National Collaborative Perinatal Neonatal Network Beirut, Lebanon. Effect of narghile and cigarette smoking on newborn birthweight. BJOG [International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology]. 2008 Jan;115(1):91-7.

And to top it, in the last issue of the British Dental Journal, one of her friends state:

“Consequently, a prevention message for those who have decided not to quit immediately could be: Avoid smoking until the coal char the tobamel. Move the coal around atop the hookah bowl or leave it. Otherwise, you might well inhale hazardous toxicants (such as PAH [Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons]) generated by session-end combustion.”

SOURCE : Shisha confusion. BDJ 2007 (22 Dec); 203 (12):669-70.

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

Too much, this is too much !

Image: courtesy of Shocking Pinks

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 !

Two Prominent Public Health Scholars Warn on Alcohol & Tobacco Policies: Moral Hygienism, State Puritanism or Industrial Lobbies ?

Two Prominent French Public Health Scholars Warn on Alcohol & Tobacco Policies: Hell is Paved with Good Intentions. Moral Hygienism, State Puritanism or Industrial Lobbies ? A Call for Action (Nov. 19, 2007)

«Alcool, tabac. Gare au pavé de l'ours. Hygiénisme moral, puritanisme d'Etat, ou lobbies industriels ? Un appel à réagir» (Original in French plus comments)


[Added January 29, 2008] READ ALSO: In Rare Historic Video Interview, Prominent Public Health Scholar in France Smokes Out Truth and Nothing But Truth about Tobacco & “Second-hand Smoke"



Image (not part of the call): Marx talking with French workers, 1844. By Hans Mocznay, 1964 (Deutsches Historisches Museum).

Relevant notes:
1) Most of the characters are smoking (cigar, pipe, cigarettes)
2: Marx one day said: “The Capital will never make up for all the cigars I smoked while writing it” (source : Die Neue Zeit, IX Jhrg., 1890-1891, pp. 10-17, 37-42).

Oh la la, la France encore ! Exhale now !

No, in the USA too: Student's Call in British Medical Journal (Nov 22, 2007) for Banning Smoking Bans !

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 Manifesto of the Observatory on Hookah and Health

> As you browse this site, you will see that we are not very fond of euphemisms. We call a spade, a spade and a flawed study, a flawed study; a serious scientific error, a serious scientific error (and never a “misrepresentation”, especially when public health is at stake); an act of plagiarism/piracy, an act of plagiarism/piracy; scientific misconduct, scientific misconduct; a “pire-reviewed” study a “pire-reviewed”(*) study; a lie a lie; a good study a good study.

> We do not abide by the Omerta (the code of silence within the Mafia) visited on these questions of public health by some biomedical journals (**) and their “pire-reviewers” (be the latter conscious or ignorant of what a hookah is) and a wing of the public mass media. We are convinced that, like the "War On Drugs" (see Ethan Nadelmann), the neo-puritan crusade against the “Peace Pipe” is doomed to fail not without bringing out extremely serious consequences. Warlike methods are definitely not adapted to cope with a public health concern.

> We are anti-prohibitionnists (like John Marks). For us, Tobacco Control means in the first instance the control over the quality of products (cigarettes, cigars, etc). This implies a systematic decriminalisation of harm reduction solutions (Eclipse cigarette, Swedish SNUS, No-carbon monoxide hookah, etc).

> Our favorite motto for prevention is “Breathe is Life”. We also like “Hookah smoking is not an innocent habit”. However, we strongly reject: “Hookah smoking is MORE dangerous than cigarette smoking”, put forward by individuals and organizations defending dubious interests.

(*) This is a pun as “pire” is a French homonym of “peer” and means “worst” or, here: “very badly” (Read this post for instance)...(**) See a Code of Conduct to which most of them don't stick (at least in this field of research).

######### ADDED MATERIAL Sept 22, 2008 #########

PARIS MANIFESTO (September 22, 2008) [from The Sacred Narghile]

Once a mere cultural resource (2000-2004), this site [the above mentioned one] was, little by little, led to offer a tribune to those brave scientists who dare expose the growing pseudo-science (“1 hookah=200 cigarettes” “sweep-it-under-the-carpet” so-called ““waterpipe””™ “science”) and whose now open objective is PROHIBITION. We consider prohibition of smoking as antithetic to the spirit of world major religions (Taoism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Communism, Judaism, Christianity, etc.), particularly the 2nd and 5th ones. Against this new pseudo-scientific obscurantism, we invite you to RESIST in the field: on campuses, hookah lounges, etc. WE HAVE WON THE BATTLE in France where hookah lounges have stayed open thanks to our friend’s debunking of the great fraud about “passive smoking” (which was already a fraud in relation with cigarette smoking...)[2009 Study]. We are also firmly committed to fight those who shamelessly promote, in the absence of any evidence and sound study, the pharmacological treatment of supposedly “hookah addicts” (read here).


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 !

World “Waterpipe”™ Experts Celebrate with 2 Comments 10,000 Hits (20,000) Reached by Critique of Erroneous WHO Report on Hookah Smoking

World Quatuor of “Waterpipe”™ Experts (Thomas EISSENBERG, Alan SHIHADEH, Wasim MAZIAK and Kenneth WARD) and their “Peer-Reviewers” Godfathers Celebrate with 2 Comments the 10,000 Hits (20,000) Reached by the Critique of the Erroneous WHO Report on “Waterpipe”™ Smoking (Sept. 2007).

In brief, the only scientific argument of the WHO-supported ““Waterpipe”™ experts is: defamation, lies and camouflage ! READ: Full story HERE

>> DON'T MISS: Letter (Sept, 7, 2007) to Dr Margaret CHAN, Director-general of WHO (World Health Organization) requesting the dissolution (winding up) of WHO TobReg

NEWS: The WHO report on “Waterpipe”™ smoking is MORE THAN NEVER ERRONEOUS !

MENU OF THE ABOVE POWERFUL LETTER:

A) "MISQUOTATIONS AND STUDIES CITED BUT NOT READ BY THE “EXPERTS”". What a shame...

B) "CONFUSION". You already knew, didn’t you ?

C) "VIOLATION OF WHO TOBREG RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING THE USE OF SMOKING MACHINES". God, what's that, a smoking machine ?

D) "REPEATED SCIENTIFIC MISCONDUCT". Quoteworthy:
“In the WHO report, key authors were systematically, and on purpose, dismissed in the “review” of the available literature. As a sole example, RAKOWER’s and HOFFMANN’s contributions in this field were brushed aside simply because they were pioneers in using smoking machines, 40 years before the one designed by Alan SHIHADEH, the co-author of the report.

Also, it is worth noting that Drs DYBING and HENNINGFIELD have actually lied when calling my 420 page transdisciplinary doctoral thesis an unpublished “graduate thesis”. They perfectly knew, for a very long time, and from the again [as in original document] bibliographical references, that it was not. Consequently, the aim was to try to justify, a posteriori, its meant dismissal from the WHO report based on a so-called “world review””

[Note : colors and bold characters added by Observatory]

E) "THE “PEER-REVIEW” FALSE OUTWARD SHOW". Humm... Sounds interesting for a place to hang out...

Quoteworthy: “Let me point out that the WHO report was supposed to have been peer-reviewed, particularly by The WHO Study Group experts TobReg). In one of the chief studies cited by Drs MAZIAK, EISSENBERG, WARD et al., supposed to have been peer-reviewed, I, have, as I said previously, early identified very serious errors [*]. Furthermore, the same “peer-reviewed” publication, published in a “prestigious” journal, contains up to 5 references (23, 97, 98, 99, 100) that are materials from the general public press. This also occurs in other publications of the same team. Alan SHIHADEH and Rawad SALEH [23] cite up to 4 references related to the popular press (Edds, Gangloff, Landphair, McNicoll). In these conditions, Dr CHAN, are not we definitely far from the academic world scientific rigour and the “peer-reviewed” criterion for sound science ? […]”

[*] 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. SEE CRITIQUE: Serious Errors in this Study. Tobacco Control 2004 (2 Dec) (SEE ALSO: Responding to defamation and censorship by Editor Tobacco Control)

F) "WRONG PRIORITIES: “NICOTINE ADDICTION” VERSUS NEW CHARCOAL CARBON MONOXIDE INTOXICATION"

G) "COLLECTIVE DEFAMATION"

H) "NON-DECLARED CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS BY MAIN AUTHORS OF WHO REPORT".

On one hand, it appears that this team is made up of professional slanderers who feigned to know that the famous No-Carbon Monoxide Harm Reduction Hookah patent (for which our friend is a co-inventor), when they raised it as a ““conflict of interest””-, was terminated by 15 June 2005, that is more than one year (!) before the manuscript of the critique of the WHO report was submitted to JNRBM (Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine) and published (17 November 2006).

On the other hand, Dr Thomas EISSENBERG has, for years, not declared competing interests in the Pharmaceutical Industry products when he has apparently strong ones (see for instance the innocent devices produced by a company he has worked for: Plowshare ). As for Dr Jack HENNINGFIELD, he didn’t clarify the real activities of Pinney Associates… Pinney Associates doesn't sell bananas.... All of them have actually tried to camouflage Dr Wasim MAZIAK’s co-authorship of the erroneous WHO report, probably because their friend had multiple conflicting interests: as Head of the US-Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies , as staff member of the US University of Memphis (with his colleague Kenneth WARD, himself member of the last organization), and perhaps for being affiliated to University of Muenster (Germany)…

J) "COOPTATION AND LACK OF INDEPENDENCY AND TRANSPARENCY. The case of Ghazi ZAATARI". The TobReg Lebanese guy from the AUB (American [US, not “South”] University of Beirut) who personnally selected the "right "experts"" (Alan SHIHADEH and Thomas EISSENBERG) for the job....

QUOTEWORTHY:"if necessary -in view of the expected reluctance to commitment by influent involved parties-, the setting up of an International Tribunal (The Hague) to establish charges against those researchers and their affiliated organisations who have imposed, day after day over the past years, a mafia-like system [...]".

READ ALSO: >>> Time seems now ripe for a quick “bio” of these important people
(based on the recent Letter to Dr Margaret Chan)

WHAT'S THIS THINGAMABOB CALLED "TobReg" ? TobReg is the study group on Tobacco product Regulation of the World Health Organization. The word TobReg was coined on the same principle as another one: tobamel. Tobamel is the mu‘assel ("honeyed" in Arabic), the tobacco [or no-tobacco]-molasses (or honey) based smoking mixture that shook the world. "Tob" stands for tobacco and "mel" for honey (or molasses) in Latin. This is not plagiarism but only imitation that we don't reject...

TobReg is made up of 12 members (as the Apostles…). However, keep in mind our warning: “Don’t be afraid”[Jesus] of them ! It appears that half of them are based in the USA. A mere coincidence ? Not sure, let's see. The Lebanon member (Ghazi ZAATARI), who stands behind the erroneous WHO “advisory note” report on “waterpipe tobacco smoking”, works at the AUB (American [that is, US] University of Beirut)…So, after a quick review of the remaining ones, the only independent and cool researchers seem to be Dr Martin JARVIS (UK) and Dr K. Srinath REDDY (from India, who by the way, authored a study on the relation between temperature and tar that, in our opinion, should have been cited as a reference in the above-mentioned erroneous WHO report prepared by the US-Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies (Wasim MAZIAK, Thomas EISSENBERG, Kenneth WARD) and the AUB (Alan SHIHADEH).

Image: courtesy of 20000 jouets

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 Medical Consequences of Narghile (Hookah, Shisha) Use in the World

Dr Kamal T.C. The Medical Consequences of Narghile (Hookah, Shisha) Use in the World. Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique [Epidemiology and Public Health] 2007;55(3):165-70. [Article in English].

READ also in Voltaire's Language:
«Tout ce que vous ne savez pas sur la chicha» (Bertrand DAUTZENBERG et Jean-Yves NAU)

Also includes comments on the above's Equation: «Fumer un narguilé, c’est fumer deux paquets de cigarettes»...

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 !

Time to Oxygenate Your Lungs, Folks !

Hey there. In view of the tremendous, and scaring for some people…, growing use of the hookah (narghile, shîsha, qalyan, baraku) in the world, we have been kept busy with the development of an original broad prevention model: the HUPM (Hookah Use Prevention Model).

Based on a strategic partnership and on the first findings of validated in vivo laboratory tests carried on by an independent team of prestigious researchers, we advice you to try right now

Oxybar and Narguilox

Come on, we look forward to receiving your feedback.

Photo: courtesy from Oxybar and Narguilox

What has been keeping us busy is ?

-->The design of a new hookah pipe for this great new century. This device, still based on the water filter, will destroy 100% of all toxic elements present in the smoke produced by tobacco (pure or mixed with molasses). At the end of the line, nitrogen will be separated and flavors adjusted and added to pure oxygen delivered to the user (patent pending).

_______________________

FRANCES : Il est temps d’oxygéner vos poumons, les amies !

Hé là. En raison de l’augmentation importante, effrayante pour certains…, de l’utilisation du houka (narghilé, shisha, chicha, callion, barakou) dans le monde, nous avons été maintenus occupés avec le développement d'un modèle original global de prévention: le MUPN (Modèle de Prévention de l’Usage du Narguilé, le HUPM en anglais).

Basé sur un partenariat stratégique et sur les premiers résultats des essais in vivo en laboratoire par une équipe indépendante de chercheurs prestigieux, nous conseillons à vous d’essayer vite :

Oxybar et Narguilox

Allons, nous attendons avec intérêt de recevoir votre rétroaction.

Qu’est ce qui nous a maintenus occupés ?

--> à la conception d’un nouveau narghileh (chicha hookah) pour ce grand siècle. Ce dispositif, toujours basé sur le filtre de l'eau, détruira 100% de tous les éléments toxiques actuels dans la fumée produite par le tabac (pur ou avec mélasse). À l'extrémité de la ligne, l'azote sera séparé et les arômes seront ajustés pour être ajoutés à l'oxygène pur livré à l'utilisateur (brevet en instance).

_______________________

ESPANOL: ¡Ya es tiempo de oxigenar tus pulmones, compa !

Hola. Debido al creciente, y asustante para cierta gente…, uso del narguile (cachimba, narghile, shisha, kalian, baraku) en el mundo, hemos quedado ocupados con el desarrollo de un amplio modelo original de prevención: el MPUN (Modelo de Prevención del Uso del Narguile, el HPUM en ingles).
De acuerdo con un partnership estratégica y los primeros resultados de unos tests in vivo en laboratorio, llevados a cabos por un equipo independiente de investigadores prestigiosos, te aconsejamos que pruebes ahora mismo

Oxybar y Narguilox (pdf)

hometown.aol.com/baroxygene/english.html (ingles)

Nos apeteceria recibir tus impresiones al respecto.

Que es lo que nos ha mantenido ocupados hasta ahora?

--> el diseño de un nuevo narguile (hookah shisha) para este gran siglo. El aparato, que se basa todavia en el filtro de agua, destruirá 100% de todos los elementos tóxicos presentes en el humo producido por el tabaco (puro o con melaza). En el extremo de la línea, el nitrogeno sera separado y los flavores seran ajustados y agregados al oxigeno puro el cual se entregara al fumador (patente pendiente).

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 !

Chemists and Biochemists of the World, Unite !

Let us save lives together !

In order to make up for a lack of studies in this field, we invite you to launch scientific experiments and check, for instance:

-the effect of temperature on glycerin and essences contained in the tobamel, i.e. the honey/treacle-molasses based smoking concoctions available in the market.
-the composition of water, after a smoking session and… before.
-the composition of the quicklighting charcoal, likely to represent the biggest hazard for hookah users !
-etc.

Then, in a “harm reduction” perspective, draw your own conclusions: for instance what can you do to enhance the filtering properties of water or avoid the above mentioned charcoal ?
Advertise and publish your results.

Genevieve, Assistant Researcher, with love.

YOU ARE NOT ON THE HOME PAGE of the blog of Hookah Narghile Shisha Waterpipe Studies.Click here to go there !

QUELQUES “TUYAUX” pour fumer plus “proprement”

QUELQUES “TUYAUX” pour fumer plus “proprement”
(étant entendu que seul l’air pur est sain pour votre santé !)
si vous ne pouvez vous abstenir de fumer

Attention ! Nous ne faisons aucune promotion mais nous sommes très préoccupés par votre santé. Aussi, nous faisons cela dans une perspective de "réduction des risques" et ainsi sauver des vies.


NOTRE MEILLEUR CONSEIL
Essayez de fumer une fois par semaine ou seulement en certaines occasions (anniversaires, Noël, mariages, fiançailles, pique-nique, etc.) comme font depuis des siècles ces peuples d’Asie et d’Afrique que vous aimez.

MONOXYDE DE CARBONE
Idéalement, une résistance électrique réduirait la production de ce gaz dangereux. Cependant, si vous n'êtes pas en possession d'un tel dispositif, ce que vous pouvez faire est:
- fumer en plein-air, par exemple dans un patio ou un jardin vert entouré de plantes.
- employer un plus grand narguilé. En fait, plus le narguilé est grands, moins il produit du monoxyde de carbone.
- employer du charbon de bois naturel au lieu du charbon de bois commercial (auto-allumage, etc.). Un autre problème avec ce dernier, sans compter que son odeur est méchante pendant les quelques minutes suivant son allumage, est que sa composition est inconnue. Ce produit pratique pourrait cependant contenir des éléments dangereux.
- de temps en temps, souffler (au lieu de l'air d’aspirer) à l'intérieur du tuyau pour débarrasser la fumée du CO s'accumulant au-dessus de l'urne contenant l'eau.
- ne pas tasser trop le mélange de tabac à l'intérieur du fourneau.

INHALATION
- Efforcez-vous de ne pas inhaler profondément. Essayez de « crapauter », à la manière de ce batracien qui ouvre sa gueule avant de happer les insectes étourdis.
- Les fumeurs de cigarette doivent bien comprendre qu'une séance d'une heure de narguilé fournit dans le plus mauvais cas l’équivalent en nicotine de seulement une cigarette. Aussi, ils devraient comprendre que le narguilé ne peut en aucun cas être une alternative à leur habitude tabagique. Ce serait une illusion et un autre problème serait que ces utilisateurs tendraient naturellement à inhaler plus profondément pour "compenser" ce manque.

LE TUYAU
- Partagez le tuyau parce que c'est une vieille tradition de quatre siècles en Asie et en Afrique. En faisant ceci, vous inhalerez moins de fumée et conserverez les dimensions collective, conviviale, ludique et récréative de cet usage. En plus, vous éloignerez le spectre éventuel de la dépendance qui existe quand même quoiqu'il est complètement différent de celui induit par la cigarette.

GOUDRONS
- La production de goudrons varie avec la fréquence des inhalations mais aussi de leur périodicité. Ca veut dire qu'il vaut beaucoup mieux inhaler une fois toutes les 2 minutes qu'une fois toutes les 30 seconces. Ca veut dire aussi qu'il vaut mieux inhaler de manière aléatoire que rythmiquement à la manière d'un métronome. Sinon, vous ressemblerez à la machine utilisée dans une étude polémique (pressez le bouton ici).

Bref, observez des pauses durant lesquelles vous pourriez, par exemple, méditer sur le sens de la vie ou l'origine du narguilé.
- Plus long est le tuyau mieux c’est.
- l'utilisateur ne devrait pas devenir un extrémiste. Ainsi il doit apprendre à cesser de fumer avant la fin de la séance. Autrement, il inhalerait des éléments impurs de combustion.

EAU
- Changez l’eau du récipient aussi souvent que possible.
- Changez le pH (“acidité”) de l’eau pour diminuer plus grandement la nicotine.
- Cherchez et trouvez les substances chimiques adaptées (« ad hoc ») pour que avec le mélange à l’eau, l’eau arrête beaucoup d’éléments nocifs (goudrons, etc.). Note: l’eau arête déjà beaucoup d’entre eux (dont des éléments cancérigènes renommés). Mais nous pouvons citer pour exemple l’acroléine et l’acétaldéhyde dont la filtration rend la fumée du houka même acceptable par les… non-fumeurs.

Photo: courtesy of The Hookah Company

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 !

Some Facts to Bear in Mind

Some Facts to Bear in Mind

NICOTINE AND TAR
Hookah does not filter all nicotine and tar but we can say that a one hour session provides more or less a nicotine level equivalent to that found in one cigarette. As for tar, it depends on the size of the device, the nature of water, the frequency of inhalation and other factors. However, don't expect to get more than half of the initial tar filtered out. However, hookah tar is perhaps less dangerous than cigarette tar because the temperatures are completely different: c. 100°C in the first case and c. 900°C in the latter. The more elevated the temperature is the more dangerous and carcinogenic tar is.

IMPORTANT NOTE CONCERNING TAR YIELDS:
There is a tremendous confusion about this point : 36 times, 100 times, 1000 times more tar than a cigarette ? This collective hystery was triggered by a recent controversial study carried on in a laboratory where a puffing machine was supposed to reflect the average smoker's behavior. In fact, it is far from representing a model for narghile smoking in the real world. Besides, what makes "tar" hazardous is not its quantity but the temperatures by which it is supported.

Alan Shihadeh and Rawad Saleh (Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, “tar”, and nicotine in the mainstream smoke aerosol of the narghile water pipe. Food and Chemical Toxicology. 2005 (May); 43(5): 655-661).

An independent researcher has analyzed this issue in detail and his comments were published (download here). Some of them (regarding tar and benzopyren) are available here

In the opinion of Genevieve (*), this controversial study establishes and confirms one sole thing : what smokers should not do :

-smoke like a metronom
-use quick-light charcoal (not "natural")
-not move around the coal above the aluminium foil

-smoke till the end, until the tobamel mixture get sort of charred.

(*) Note: Genevieve, as a young researcher, will publish in 2006 her first study on narghile. Be there !

NICOTINE and DEPENDENCE
It’s hard to decide. On the one hand, really dependent hookah smokers (mostly to be found in Asia and Africa) seem not to become, one day or another, cigarette smokers. On the other hand, the same dependent hookah users (either of unflavoured or flavoured tobacco) would not, in a situation where they cannot access a pipe, switch to cigarette smoking that could, we can assume that, provide them with nicotine. Amazingly, tumbak (raw moistened unflavoured tobacco) smokers, in a situation where a hookah is not available, would not accept, even temporarily, to smoke tobamel (flavoured tobacco) and vice-versa. So, the question of nicotine is not decided at all. Dependence, when it happens (rare in the case of recreational use), would be a complex structure not necessarily centred on nicotine but, rather, on cotinine and flavours not to forget the social and cultural setting of the “situation” which might play a not so minor role.

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 !

A FEW TIPS to smoke safer (knowing that only pure air is safe !) if you cannot refrain from smoking

HOOKAH NARGHILE WATERPIPE: A FEW TIPS

to smoke safer (knowing that only pure air is safe !)

if you cannot refrain from smoking

Watch out ! We are not promoting anything but we are very concerned so we suggest hereafter a few "harm reduction" hints to save lives

[Added material Oct 23, 2010: "Even regarding charcoal, there are so many ways to smoke in a healthier way (harm reduction options) but these prohibitionist hygienist people are stubborn and stuck to a global agenda serving the economic interests of the pharmaceutical industry (nicotine gums, pills, inhalers, Chantix, etc.) which , in a way or another, funds them"]

THE BEST ADVICE

First off, try to smoke only once a week then only on social occasions (birthdays, Christmas, wedding parties, picnics, etc.) just like those peoples you love in Asia and Africa have been doing for centuries.

CARBON MONOXIDE

Ideally, an electrical resistance would drastically reduce the amount of this dangerous gas. However, if you are not in possession of such a device, what you can do is:

-smoking outdoors, for instance in a green patio or garden surrounded with plants.
-using a bigger hookah. Effectively, the bigger the pipe, the lesser it produces CO.
-using natural charcoal instead of commercial (self-lighting and the lot) charcoal. Another problem with the latter, besides its nasty smell during the few minutes following its lighting up, is that its composition is unknown. This handy commodity might however contain dangerous elements.
-from time to time, blowing (instead of drawing air) inside the hose to get rid of the smoke CO building up over the water urn.
-not cramming too much the tobacco mixture inside the bowl.

INHALATION

- Try not inhale deeply. Retain smoke in your mouth ("chipping") imitating toads before they gulp down insects.
-It must be clear to cigarette smokers that a single one-hour hookah session provides in the worst case with the nicotine equivalent of only one cigarette so they should understand that hookah cannot be an alternative to their cigarette smoking habit. This would be an illusion and another problem would be that these users would naturally tend to inhale deeper and deeper in order to "compensate".

THE HOSE

-Share the hose because it is a four-century old tradition in Asia and Africa. By doing this, you will inhale less smoke and keep to the habit its essential playful, collective, convivial and recreational dimensions and, by the same token, you will move to a distance, further off and banish the dependency spectre which also exists albeit it’s completely different from that induced by cigarette smoking.

TAR

-The production of tar varies accordingly with the frequency of inhalations but also with their periodicity. This means that it is certainly better, from a health point of view, to inhale once every 2 minutes than twice each minute. This also means that it is much better to inhale at IRregular intervals (in an every which random way) than rhythmically like a rocking chair or a metronome. Otherwise, you could agree with the findings of a controversial study (press here).

In short, make pauses and breaks during which you could, for example, meditate upon the hidden meaning of life or give thought to the mysterious origin of the narghile, also called hookah...
-The longer the hose the better it is.
-The user should not become an extremist so he must learn to stop smoking before the end of the session. Otherwise, he would inhale impure combustion elements.

WATER
- Change water as often as possible.
- Change the pH (“acidity”) of water to hold back as much as nicotine as possible.
- Find the ad hoc chemical substances to be added to water to stop as many harmful elements (tar, etc.) as possible. Note: water already stops many of them (among them some known carcinogens). Let’s only consider here acrolein and acetaldehyde the filtration of which makes hookah smoke accepted even by… non-smokers.

[Added December 2007: Shocking ! Two Well Regarded Scientists Go Beyond All Acceptable Limits by Giving Tips to Hookah (Narghile, Shisha) Smokers !]

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 !