Former Director of the Korle Bu Cardio Centre, Dr Lawrence Serebour, says spending an hour smoking shisha exposes users to an amount of smoke equivalent to that from 100 to 200 cigarettes.

He has warned that the practice poses serious health risks, dismissing claims that shisha is less harmful than conventional cigarettes because the smoke passes through water before inhalation.

Speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show on Friday, November 6, during a discussion on “Shisha: Status Symbol or Slow Poison”, Dr Serebour said the water in shisha pipes does not filter out the harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke.

“One hour spent on the shisha machine is equivalent to smoking 100 to 200 sticks of cigarette,” he said.

He explained that unlike a cigarette, which may be finished after about 20 puffs, a shisha user could inhale smoke more than 200 times within an hour.

“You light a cigarette. By the time you puff 20 times, it's finished. But shisha, you puff over 200 times in an hour,” he said.

Water does not make shisha safer

Dr Serebour rejected the belief that passing smoke through water makes shisha less harmful, describing the claim as false.

“It's a lie. In fact, the carbon monoxide that you inhale from shisha smoking is far more than what you get from cigarette smoking,” he said.

He explained that the charcoal used to heat tobacco in shisha pipes produces carbon monoxide, which can affect the heart, lungs and the blood's ability to transport oxygen.

“And carbon monoxide has effects on your heart. It has effects on your lungs, everywhere in your blood, and how your blood carries oxygen,” he said.

He further stressed that the water does not remove the harmful chemicals in the smoke.

“So, it's a lie that because it passes through water, it does not filter the chemicals, the bad chemicals at all. It does not do that. It's a lie,” he said.

Cancer and addiction risks

Dr Serebour noted that tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 harmful chemicals, about 70 of which are carcinogenic and can cause cancer.

He said tobacco smoking is associated with cancers of the mouth, lips, larynx, oesophagus, lungs and bladder, among other health complications.

“It has a lot of effects on the heart, on the lungs, and the other organs of the body, causing cancer of the mouth, of the lips, of the larynx, of the oesophagus, the lungs, bladder, a lot of other problems that it creates,” he said.

“You are poisoning yourself. You are producing cancer for your body,” he added.

The cardiologist also warned that shisha smoking can lead to nicotine addiction, regardless of how the tobacco is consumed.

“Nicotine is highly, highly addictive,” he said.

He added that some tobacco products contain other substances that can further increase their addictive potential.

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One hour spent on shisha machine equivalent to smoking 100 to 200 sticks of cigarettes – Cardiologist

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