Narghile Super Women, Hookah Super Girls and the Future of Shisha Science

We already had prestigious Lebanese Narghile Super Women (Doctors Pascale, Zeina and Myrna) who have been leading independent research on the hazards of nicotine and Carbon Monoxide intake among narghile smokers in natural environments (cafes...). Far from the herds of antismoking barking dogs and without suspect funding from the pharmaceutical industry (nicotine patches, gums, Chantix, etc.), and just because science should not become ideology, they spoke out:

“Thus, it [the shisha] is now considered by the World Health Organization a global public health threat. However, the WHO report has been criticized, and errors were shown, dealing with the chemistry of smoke, health-related effects, smoking patterns, description and history of the device and its use, gender and underage use aspects, prevention and research needs in this field : the author suggested that many results were drawn in artifi cially produced and unrealistic conditions in a laboratory, that lead to confusion and overestimation of waterpipe toxicity".

SOURCE: Salameh P, Aoun Bacha Z, Waked M. Saliva cotinine and exhaled carbon monoxide in real life water pipe smokers: a post hoc analysis. Tobacco Use Insights 2009:2 1–10.

Now, we have a younger generation of Super Hookah Girls with Kelsey, Gabi, Courtney, Erika and others. They have launched a site called The ScienceOfHookah (a project for their physical science class) in which they ask very very witty questions : that of the nature of the hookah and then tackle the taboo issue of Morality.


We will let them find their way. They will soon find by themselves that beyond the classical obvious morality problems, lie those of ethics in science and how official ““waterpipe””™ “peer-reviewed” science has been a great public money funded fallacy.

Erika: “Morality: Making a decision”

God bless them all !

Images: Courtesy of Facebook

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Hookah ETS (Environmental Tobacco Smoke) for Beginners

A new study on ETS (Environmental Tobacco Smoke, also called second-hand smoke)("passive smoking"), “reveals”… that what you don’t know can kill you !

Title: “Is Medical Concern about Hookah Environmental Tobacco Smoke Hazards Warranted ?”, published in The Open General & Internal Medicine Journal (select “Volume 3” 2009)(or through mirror site).

“Abstract: This paper reviews the present knowledge about the nature of hookah (narghile, shisha) ETS and, in the light of the controversy over the actual health effects of cigarette ETS, concludes that the former should not be hyperbolised in an unscientific way as, unfortunately, a WHO report suggests.”

The article also pays a tribute to a Forces officer who has passed away recently. He has been an important figure in the global fight against pseudo-science (related to tobacco, of course), lies and propaganda that he and his organization have widely contributed to expose.

FORCES International (“Powered by reason, driven by passion”) is "a fascinating site we got to know accidentally and only recently although these people are drawing, in the field of research on cigarette smoking, very similar conclusions (about WHO reports, its lack of independence, etc.) to ours in the field of hookah smoking. The diametrical point of view defended by the Globalink site" (source: The Sacred Narghile).

RELEVANT READINGS:

Apology of pseudo-science by Shisha Pipe UK (retailer...):

The UK Ban is “in line with international evidence and recommendations. The World Health Organization (WHO) advises that: "using a water pipe to smoke tobacco poses a serious potential health hazard to smokers and others exposed to the smoke emitted"

Laugh ! or cry ?

"United Kingdom Ban on Smoking in General and on Hookah Smoking in Particular Should NOT Stay", Analysts Say

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

IMAGE: Official poster based on a fake image (photomontage) originally from WHO (World No Tobacco Day campaign, 2005). It was designed by the tobacco experts of INPES (Institut National pour la Prevention et l'Education a la Sante), a French official governmental agency.

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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


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EXPLOSIVE WORLD PREMIERE: Joint Egypt-Saudi-French Nuclear Study Establishes Hazards of Iran Mass Entertainment Weapon (Hookah Smoking)

IN MEMORY of the hundreds of thousands of people (200 000) and animals who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (*) under the nuclear fire of cowards and criminals in the US Army roaming these days in other parts of the world.

(*) Entire living cities with their children, women, men, cats and dogs, .... gardens, cafes and tea houses... have disappeared within a very short span of time…

Wasim MAZIAK, Thomas EISSENBERG, Kenneth WARD and Alan SHIHADEH: RESIGN ! Give Back the Money Now and Apologize to the World! Send now your troops to US campuses if you have the guts (story HERE) !

Figure (tables) above: Activity concentration of 210Po and tobacco content in cigarette, moassel and jurak (a), 210Po activity percentage released in smoke and remained in ash and filter (b), daily and annual intake of Po-210 activity, Bq, due to cigarette, moassel and jurak smoking (c) and annual committed effective dose due to 210Po and 210Pb intake via smoking. [all rights reserved]

Image: Don’t Forget Hiroshima by Takanori Matsumoto

TITLE OF THE STUDY: Radiological hazards of Narghile (hookah, shisha, goza) smoking: activity concentrations and dose assessment.

Published in the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity (1 September 2008)

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, apparently based on excerpts from the abstract of the study:

“The average concentrations of natural radionuclides in moassel tobacco pastes are comparable to their concentration in Greek cigarettes and tobacco leaves, and lower than that of Brazilian tobacco leaves.”

“Our study found a wide range in the radioactivity contents where the average (range) activity concentrations of 238U, 234Th, 226Ra, 210Pb, 210Po, 232Th and 40K, in Bq/kg dry weight were 55 (19–93), 11 (3–23), 3 (1.2–8), 14 (3–29), 13 (7–32), 7 (4–10) and 719 (437–1044) Bq/kg dry weight, respectively.”

So, if you are not struck by a cancer caused by hookah smoking, you will sure die of its radioactivity

However, the Observatory on Hookah or Health accessed the study and was first very impressed by the pioneering advance the work represents in the ““waterpipe””™ night. Then, we note that the study shows how the authors (*) of the erroneous Cochrane Review (the laundered recycled version of the erroneous World Health Organisation report , both supposed to be “peer-reviewed” and “gold standard” (sic) publications...) have actually invented (and published !), with others, the figure of 100 million daily hookah smokers in the word.

Nuclear study states: “It has been claimed and repeated in the open peer-reviewed scientific literature that more than 100 million people worldwide smoke narghile daily [HERE, the study refers to the erroneous Cochrane Review (*)]. However, the origin of such an estimate cannot be traced in any scientific database. As for the historical background of the narghile, it is not Indian as often stated but more probably African […]”

(*) Maziak, W., Ward, K., Eissenberg, T., 2007. Interventions for waterpipe smoking cessation. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. (4) CD005549.

Since the Cochrane Review is controlled by people linked to the intolerant die-hard anti-tobacco Globalink (or Global Lynch if you prefer) network, the public could not know before of the scandal of that document and to what extent the reputation of the Cochrane Reviews has been stained. The above example is only one out of many errors. Only pire-reviewers, puppets and parrots can gloss over such a repeated scientific misconduct. Then it is mere propaganda.

Chaud-Crâne Kamal ! We love you !


PREVIOUS RELEVANT READINGS :

Bury the Peace Pipe and Dig it Up Again: Iran Between US Prohibitionism and National Sovereignty, Freedom, Dignity and Persian Art de Vivre

Syria, Iran and the Threat Posed by Hookah Smoking to the Free Civilized World


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PASSIVE SMOKING. Top Tobacco Authoritative Expert Debunks European Report (“Lifting the SmokeScreen"). Asks: “Epidemiological Study or Manipulation ?"

Title of the study:

The European Report "Lifting the SmokeScreen": Epidemiological study or manipulation ?

Published in the Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique (August 12, 2008)


>> Available in English HERE, FREE FULL TEXT

OFFICIAL ABSTRACT:

Backround: This report ends up with a large increase of the number of estimated deaths from passive smoking in Europe. Its conclusions have been decisive to passing laws banning smoking in public places.

Results: However, analysis of this report for France reveals considerable anomalies, such as changing the usual definition of passive smoking. Among the 5863 estimated deaths, 4749 concern everyday smokers. The 1114 non-smokers include all the former smokers as well, whose remaining risk cannot be attributed to environmental smoke. Published data used for calculations come from polls, of which results are very diverse and not very reliable. The level of confidence is not discussed.

Conclusion: Nevertheless, the number of estimated deaths in the field where restricting laws might be applied and efficient is so low that it makes you wonder which the real aim of this report is, and which conflicts of interests hide behind it.

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Note: the report under critique is titled: "Lifting the SmokeScreen, 10 reasons for Smoke Free Europe". It was published in Feb 2006 by the European Cancer Society, Cancer Research (United Kingdom). Linkout

QUOTEWORTHY

« Débattant sur un tel sujet, l’Europe ne pouvait-elle se financer seule ? N’est-il pas scandaleux qu’une conférence européenne organisée par ceux qui ont rédigé ce rapport, à laquelle ont pris part des ministres et la Commission européenne, se soit tenue « sponsorisée par deux géants de l’industrie pharmaceutique mondiale » qui vendent les produits pour arrêter de fumer, Niquitin® et Zyban® (GSK), Nicorette® et Champix® (Pfizer), dont ils ont obtenu une prise en charge par l’assurance maladie (50 s par an et par fumeur), tout en continuant leur publicité directe pour ceux hors-prescription ? Leurs groupes de pression sont très actifs et efficaces. Seraient ils à la base de ce qu’il conviendrait bien d’appeler une grossière manipulation. Un tel rapport qui se soucie aussi peu de vérité scientifique démontre à l’avance le peu de cas qui sera fait d’éventuelles critiques. »

[material added Oct. 4] COMPARE WITH >>>>>>

“The conflicts of interest in tobacco control go beyond individual researchers. The institution itself has been conflicted by virtue of its sponsorship by Big Pharma. For example, the 2009 World Conference on Tobacco or Health is being sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer. The 2007 National Tobacco Control Conference was sponsored by Pfizer.”

“Not only was the participation of these individuals on the expert panel inappropriate and unethical, but a major component of the institution of tobacco control - namely, its national and international conferences - have prostituted themselves by accepting sponsorship from pharmaceutical companies which have a direct interest in the scientific and policy research and issues being discussed at these conferences.”

“The bias created by financial conflicts of interest with Big Pharma in tobacco control continues and can be seen in numerous research articles. For example, in response to the article documenting that unplanned quit attempts are the most successful, a researcher from the University of Vermont challenges the conclusions of that study. What is not disclosed is the fact that in 2006, the same researcher "accepted honoraria, fees or travel expenses from Academy for Educational Development, Atrium Healthcare, Cambridge Hospital, Celtic Pharmaceuticals/Xenova, Concepts in Medicine, Cowen and Companies, Cygnus, Edelman Bioscience, Exchange Supplies Ltd., Fagerstrom Consulting, Free and Clear, Health Learning Systems, Healthwise, JSR, Insyght, LEK Consulting, Maine Medical Center, Nabi Pharmaceuticals, New York Association of Substance Abuse Providers, Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, National Institutes on Health; Pfizer/U.S., Pfizer Canada, Pinney Associates, Sanofi-Aventis, Shire Health London, Temple University of Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin and ZS Associates."”

Note: the suspect publication is: Hughes JR, Carpenter MJ. Stopping smoking: carpe diem? Tob Control.2006; 15: 415-416

SOURCE OF 3 ABOVE QUOTATIONS:

Pr Michael S.: Chantix Lawsuits Piling Up; Dangers from Severe Financial Conflicts of Interests of Tobacco Control Researchers and Institutions Revealed. The Rest of the Story; Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary 2008 (Sep 24)

RELEVANT PREVIOUS ARTICLES

Environmental Tobacco Smoke: Prominent Top Tobacco Specialist in France Publishes Critical Analysis in Réalités Cardiologiques [“Tabagisme Passif"]

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

In Rare Historic Video Interview, Prominent Public Health Scholar in France Smokes Out Truth and Nothing But Truth about Tobacco & “Second-hand Smoke"

Oh la la.. La France encore... Exhale Now !

[note: backdated article, posted Sept 27, 2008)]

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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

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[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)

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Environmental Tobacco Smoke: Prominent Top Tobacco Specialist in France Publishes Critical Analysis in Réalités Cardiologiques [“Tabagisme Passif"]

«Environmental Tobacco Smoke»: Prominent Top Tobacco Specialist in France Publishes Critical Analysis in Réalités Cardiologiques (June 2008) [“Tabagisme Passif". «Réalités Cardiologiques» publie (juin 2008) une mise au point par un savant hors du commun]

Two online think tanks in charge of analysing public health policies pay a tribute to this brave scholar. The Observatory on Hookah and Health, because of its focus on scientific integrity in tobacco studies, links up to them for this tribute:
Nos Libertés (Our Liberties) and Un air neuf (Clean Air: “A Desire Cannot be Addressed with a Ban”)

French side of the Observatory:

“Tabagisme Passif" : La revue médicale «Réalités Cardiologiques» publie (juin 2008) une mise au point par un savant hors du commun

ALSO: Relations between French Research and the French Tobacco Industry


Previously published Relevant Articles :

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

In Rare Historic Video Interview, Prominent Public Health Scholar in France Smokes Out Truth and Nothing But Truth about Tobacco & “Second-hand Smoke"

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

etc.

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In Rare Historic Video Interview, Prominent Public Health Scholar in France Smokes Out Truth and Nothing But Truth about Tobacco & “Second-hand Smoke"

Original post in French (French side of the Observatory on Hookah and Health):

“Toute la vérité, rien que la vérité” sur le tabac et le «tabagisme passif». Le courage multidisciplinaire et indiscipliné d’un savant hors du commun

>> (automatic) English translation: PRESS HERE

This scholar is also behind a recent public call (advertized in our columns): Two Prominent Public Health Scholars on Alcohol & Tobacco Policies Warn: Moral Hygienism, State Puritanism or Industrial Lobbies ?

Notably, this scientist is also the founder of the first learned society for the scientific study of tobacco and addiction (“tobaccology”) (President 1982-2004).

Bravely, he has published a critique of the European expert report on environmental tobacco smoke titled « Lifting the smokescreen, 10 reasons for a smokefree Europe », noting, in particular, that out of the 5863 deaths "caused" by «second-hand smoke » (according to the report), 1114 are related to non-smokers…"

His motto: "1000 morts sont 1000 de trop." “La vérité sur le sur le tabagisme passif devrait suffire”.

French original : check out copy on Pénombre (how figures shape society)
>> (automatic) English translation: PRESS HERE


Verbatim transcription of the original (French) interview

English Human translation of the verbatim transcription (English)

performed free of charge, "for the cause", by Iro CYR at http://www.cagecanada.ca


Oh la la, la France encore ! Exhale now...

Image (left, top): Fairy Nicotine, by Louis-Philippe Hébert, 1902. Laiton patiné, 47 × 21 × 13 cm. Collection : Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, 99.352. Photograph: Patrick Altman. Also on cover of book: Catherine FERLAND (Ed.): Tabac & Fumées. Regards multidisciplinaires et indisciplinés sur l’histoire du tabagisme, XVe-XXe siècle, Québec, Presses de l’Université de Laval (coll. Intercultures), 2007.

Image (left, bottom) : The Truth climbing out of the well with a whip in her hand to castigate mankind (Jean-Léon Gérôme, XIXth Century). Courtesy of: Dompteur de fauves

Image (right): The "Nicotine Addiction" (Surgeon General, 1988) dogma which has paralysed tobacco research for two decades now.


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1967-2007: Aqui se Queda la Clara. A Tribute to Ernst WYNDER and Ernesto Che GUEVARA

On March 8, 2007, the Observatory on Hookah and Health paid a tribute to Ernst L. Wynder (and Dietrich Hoffmann) on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the release of their book “Tobacco and Tobacco Smoke. Studies in Experimental Carcinogenesis” (Academic Press, New York, London, 1967, pages 186, 329-330).

This book contains Satanic Verses censored for decades (and particularly these last years) by the religious clique of diehard fanatics which has also hijacked and brought into disrepute the tobacco control movement. Fortunately, the Observatory on Hookah and Health dug them out:

“Long-term studies with water pipe smoke have not been carried out. These studies are of epidemiological interest because of the apparent infrequency of lung cancer among Syrians and water pipe smoking Asiatic and African immigrants to Israel (…) Most remarkable, however, is the filter efficiency of the water in the Shish[a], the water-filled main part of the Narghile.”

As we’re waving Good Bye to year 2007, we wish to renew such a tribute, hoping many tobacco researchers will follow the path and methods of these great scientists.

As for Ernesto Che Guevara, he was also a “MD” (holder of a medicine diploma). Long before the “emergence” (that’s the modern term, no ?) of fashionable organizations like “Doctors Without Frontiers”, he carried on an early “humanitarian mission” (would we say with today's words). So, like James Dean, he mounted his motorbike and headed northwards...

He decided to leave everything behind to go and help the poor people of the South American continent and finally those of the whole world. The epidemic he set about to fight was much more deadly than tobacco and the Cuban cigars he smoke, he poor wheezing man... Two of its many facets were, and still are, unfortunately: oppression and poverty.

All peace’n’love hookah smoking hippies of the world, who marched against the war in Vietnam, will remember these heroic times. He would have to face the Empire, its violence and cruel embargos (from Vietnam and Cuba to Iraq)(1), for the sake of truth, freedom and independence. Everywhere he went, from America to Africa, he was so respectful of cultures and peoples. For all these reasons, he should be a model for scientists, particularly those working in the tobacco field. He died in 1967 in Bolivia where he was shot dead by the rapid fire of CIA bullets. And he left to the world la entranable trasparencia de su querida presencia...


(1) READ: Happy New Year 2007 ! Welcome to the Empire of Global Lies, Hatred, Online Horror and on the Air !

OUR MOTTO: Curbing Junk Science Is a Moral Obligation and a Revolutionary Task for all Scientists Worthy of this Name !

Image: courtesy of: Radio Cadena Agramonte

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Revelations about Hookah and Cancer

45 years after J. Rakower and B. Fatal's historic Study of Narghile Smoking in Relation to Cancer of the Lung (Br J Cancer 1962 (Mar);16:1-6.)), a pioneering team of researchers in Pakistan sheds new light on the relation of hookah smoking to cancer:

>> Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels in hookah smokers, cigarette smokers and non-smokers. J Pak Med Assoc 2007;57(12):595-9.

Here are its first conclusions : “It was concluded that the brands of cigarettes (which were ranked on the basis of price) and the rate of smoking both play an important role in raising the CEA levels. Further the common belief that hookah also called narghile or shisha is a relatively safe mode of smoking is not completely correct; a significant proportion of hookah smokers [*] have high levels of CEA although mean levels of hookah smokers [*] were low compared to cigarette smokers”

[*] Note: The hookah smokers in this experiment were mixed hookah / bidis / cigarettes users.

Note 1: CEA is a biomarker of several types of cancer.

Note 2: CEA levels in exclusive/ever hookah smokers were even more lower:

[material added May 28, 2008]

World and Ever Historic Premiere: Study (May 2008, Online Free) on HOOKAH (Shisha) and CANCER Markers: You’re Dead!

CHINESE SPANISH FRENCH ARABIC RUSSIAN ENGLISH

Note 3: The above team's leader is also the great independent scientist who first studied Carbon Monoxide levels in relation to hookah smoking. He was the first on Earth to establish, 15 years ago, that the bigger the hookah the lesser the emissions of carbon monoxide are and that the levels of this gas can vary tremendously (according to tobacco-based mixtures, types of charcoal, etc.): from that of a cigarette (and less) to high figures.

READ AND READ AGAIN: Carbon monoxide fractions in cigarette and hookah. J Pak Med Assoc 1993 (Sep);43(9):179-82.

This new study on hookah and cancer is timely because a devastating world confusion was created by a famous article (presented as a “world review”) prepared by the authors of the Erroneous WHO 1st Expert Report on "Waterpipe"™ and the Erroneous Cochrane Review :

Wasim Maziak, Kenneth Ward, Rima Afifi Soweid and Thomas Eissenberg: “Tobacco smoking using a waterpipe: a re-emerging strain in a global epidemic”, published in 2004 in the supposedly peer-reviewed Tobacco Control journal (13: pages 327 to 333).

Three years later, the above article is still fuelling confusion everywhere in the world. See a recent critique of this situation: Shisha confusion. BDJ 2007 (22 Dec); 203 (12):669-70
in which its author recalls all parroting researchers (who also participate, consciously or unconsciously, in inflating the “impact factor” of this kind of study)(*) that one of the serious errors in the joint US-Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies’ study was “to credit Rakower and Fatal with exactly the opposite of what they stated in their famous historical study about narghile and lung cancer”.

As a matter of fact, Rakower and Fatal were researchers who, in 1962, drew opposite conclusions on the relation of hookah smoking and lung cancer…

All publications by the above team are very similar in their nature. Check by yourself. We invite you to read their literature and, above all, make your own opinion. Don't rely on us only.

Read also THIS

(*) Note about a GREAT MYSTIFICATION. It is supposed that the number of times a study is cited actually reflects its scientific value… This is in fact the greatest myth about hookah smoking. As an example, two famous anecdotic and erroneous (although published in the “prestigious journal: The Lancet) one-page papers, written by Peter Kandela (“Narghile Smoking Keeps "Waterpipe"™ Researchers in Wonderland”; “Signs of Trouble for Hubble-Bubble”) have been cited by parroting researchers in 40 to 50 studies on this issue over the past years. Most often, these two papers have been cited as the SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE that the hookah is of Indian origin or that parents in the Arab world smoke the narghile with their children. If any reader of this site is a native of that region, knows it or lives in it, let him/her tell comment on these statements, also officially published in the WHO Expert Report on "Waterpipe"™

And they call this “science”, "peer-reviewed" science !

OUR COMMITMENT: One of the main topic of this site –as its title reads- is cancer. We early stated that we were committed to work on this issue and others. So, you will know the whole truth about it. More on this site soon, so, stay tuned folks !

>> 3 selected (there are many more) related sources in relation to repeated common errors (or lies) about lung cancer published in the so-called peer-reviewed scientific literature:

1) Study on US “Waterpipe”™ Users by US-Syrian Center: from Serious Errors to ““Waterpipe”” Fixation, Fallacies, Fallacism and Religious Obsession, etc.

2) Shisha confusion. British Dental Journal 2007 (22 Dec); 203 (12):669-70.

3) E-Letter to the Editor: Serious Errors in this Study. Tobacco Control 2004 (2 Dec). A critical analysis of the following study: 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.

ALSO RELEVANT: “But shisha smoke retained all the carcinogens of cigarette smoke while adding more carbon monoxide and a separate set of carcinogens from the use of burning coals to keep the nicotine flowing, coupled with the risk of infection with tuberculosis or hepatitis from shared mouthpieces, Gezairy said”(1)

(1) Regional Director for the World Health Organization (March 15, 2007)

[added material Jan 4, 2008] QUOTEWORTHY (forced to acknowledge): Hookahs "may not give you lung cancer but may compromise your health in other ways," she said.

“She”= “S. Katharine HAMMOND, chairwoman of the division of environmental health sciences at the University of California, Berkeley”. “She” is above all a member of WHO TobReg, the "Study Group for Tobacco product REGulation" of the WHO (World Health Organization). This group stands the Erroneous WHO 1st Expert Report on "Waterpipe"™ , further laundered and recycled by the joint US-Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies in Erroneous and Unethical Cochrane Review . Notably, the latter was “peer-reviewed” by Mirjana DJORDJEVIC, also a member of WHO TobReg and Alan SHIHADEH, the co-author of the first WHO erroneous expert… The loop is looped.

WHO TobReg has also recently published: Serious Errors in World Health Organization New Report on “Scientific Basis of Tobacco Product Regulation”

[Added Jan 19, 2008 The “Nicotine and Tobacco Research” Journal Endorses a Scientific Error as Big and Carcinogenic as a Yemeni Narghile Bowl ! ]

DON'T MISS: WHO TobReg (Study Group for Tobacco product REGulation): More Democratic than the UN Insecurity Council...


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[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)

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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 !

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Cochrane 2007 Review Masquerade on ““Waterpipe”™ Smoking Cessation” (Wasim Maziak, Thomas Eissenberg, Kenneth Ward) Is Summertime Blues !

COMMUNIQUE (29 October 2007):

"The Cochrane 2007 Review Masquerade on ““Waterpipe”” Smoking Cessation (by Wasim MAZIAK, Kenneth WARD and Thomas EISSENBERG), its By-Products and the Suspect Unbalanced Focus on ““Waterpipe”” Smoking vs. Cigarette Smoking"

QUOTATIONS:

"I'm gonna take two weeks, gonna have a fine vacation; I'm gonna take my problems to the United Nations [...] Sometimes I wonder what I'm a gonna do; But there ain't no cure for the summertime blues"
(Eddie Cochran, rock’n’roll singer of the fifties, Summertime Blues) LISTEN AND WATCH SUMMERTIME BLUES HERE !

"The Cochrane Library contains high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. It includes reliable evidence from Cochrane and other systematic reviews, clinical trials, and more. Cochrane reviews bring you the combined results of the world’s best medical research studies, and are recognised as the gold standard in evidence-based health care." (The Cochrane Library)

NEW FINDINGS: World ““Waterpipe”™ Experts” ready to envisage Bupropion (Zyban) for Treatment of “Waterpipe”™ “Addicts” !

also: "Evidence-based information about waterpipe’s addictive and harmful properties should be developed and disseminated in order to deglamourise and denormalise its use".

THE BIG QUESTION: "Deglamourise" and "denormalise" hookah, narghile and shisha or the cumulating related pseudo-science funded by US tax-payers' millions of dollars ?

More in: FULL COMMUNIQUE HERE (includes translation into French). Once again, hidden conflicts of interest in a "gold standard" (Cochrane claims this) "study", meta-errors in a high-sounding meta-analysis (by Neergaard and coll.), etc., etc., etc.

READ ALSO: Healthy brave emerging counter-literature from great academics of the world:

1) Pr Carl P. (Alberta). Warning: Anti-tobacco activism may be hazardous to epidemiologic science. Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations 2007 (22 Oct);4:13.
http://www.epi-perspectives.com/content/4/1/13 (full text free)

2) Pr James E. (California). Defending legitimate epidemiologic research: combating Lysenko pseudoscience. Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations 2007 (10 Oct);4:11
http://www.epi-perspectives.com/content/4/1/11 (full text free)

3) Pr Michael S. (Boston). Is the tobacco control movement misrepresenting the acute cardiovascular health effects of secondhand smoke exposure? An analysis of the scientific evidence and commentary on the implications for tobacco control and public health practice. Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations 2007 (10 Oct);4:12
http://www.epi-perspectives.com/content/4/1/12 (full text free)

See also the tremendous sites of the above authors:

The Rest of the Story:Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary (Pr Michael S., Boston)

Scientific Integrity Institute (Pr James E., California)

The Tobacco Harm Reduction project (Pr Carl P., Alberta)


4) POWERFUL BOOK written by two professors from Tel Aviv Universities: Hanan F. and Reuven D.: A Critique of Nicotine Addiction. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000.

A key-book to understand why the dependence on hookah is so mysterious. Note: often censored. This book concludes that "on present evidence, there is every reason to reject the generally accepted theory that nicotine has a major role in cigarette smoking. A critical examination of the criteria for drug addiction demonstrates that none of these criteria is met by nicotine, and that it is much more likely that nicotine in fact limits rather than facilitates smoking." ORDER HERE

Image: courtesy of Buddy Holly Live

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"McCarthyism is Alive and Well in the Anti-Smoking Movement" Says Pr Michael SIEGEL

Quoteworthy quotations (16 and 24 October 2007) from The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary (Pr Michael S., Boston)

"It is now official. McCarthyism is alive and well in the anti-smoking movement [...] This is McCarthyism in action. Quelling debate. Stifling opposition. Expelling and blacklisting anyone who dares express dissent.
[...] No wonder the tobacco control movement has gone off the deep end in its fanaticism. Anyone who tries to stop it knows that they will be censored or expelled. You have no choice but to go along with the groupthink."

"I sense a rather McCarthyistic element in the tobacco control movement. Whether the scientific arguments I have made are valid or not is up for question and debate; the unwillingness of the movement to be willing to entertain a discussion of the validity of its scientific claims, on the other hand, is a dangerous element in a public health movement.
This may be exactly the type of problem that Rothman predicted in his commentary which suggested that focusing on the scientist rather than on the merits of the science could lead to a “new McCarthyism in science.” [77] Rothman argued that every piece of scientific work and criticism should be judged solely on its scientific merit, and that any attacks on these works should be science-based, not ad hominem attacks. My experience revealed that tobacco control advocates and groups are falling into this trap; the response to my critical pieces has consisted entirely of ad hominem attacks and has been devoid of any discussion of the scientific merits (or lack thereof) of my work."

"In his article, Enstrom too sees an element of McCarthyism in his treatment by the tobacco control movement: "Being able to distinguish between real and implied scientific misconduct is important to the integrity of science in general and to the integrity of individual scientists in particular. Falsely accusing an honest scientist of scientific misconduct is just as wrong as scientific misconduct itself. Implying that an honest scientist has committed scientific misconduct because he has published unpopular findings or has used an unpopular funding source is wrong and falls under the category of “scientific McCarthyism” [4].

As I argued in my blog post regarding the American Cancer Society's attack on Enstrom, it appears that the ACS was using Dr. Enstrom as a fall guy for unfavorable research findings. There were no grounds for a scientific misconduct charge. It was a false accusation, and it was based solely on Enstrom's having published unfavorable findings and using an unpopular funding source. It does, therefore, fall under the category of scientific McCarthyism.

[...] One question that may occur to readers is whether there is anyone else in the tobacco control movement who supported me and expressed agreement with my opinions. The answer is: absolutely. However, most of these individuals were only willing to express their support privately. To express their support publicly would result in their own expulsion from the movement, and in some cases, the end of their careers. This is how the McCarthyism in the tobacco control movement works."

NOTE: Pr James E.'s reference number 4 is the same as Pr Michael S.' number 9:

Rothman KJ. Conflict of interest: the new McCarthyism in science. JAMA 1993;269:2782-84

Image: courtesy of Sonoran Sunsets

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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).


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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»...

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