Shisha smoking on the rise among teenagers

Shisha is becoming more common among teenagers even though one filling of this Arab water pipe is equivalent to about 70 cigarette drags, a study revealed.

Depending on the amount of shisha tobacco mixed with water, the pipe gives off as much toxic carbon monoxide as 15 to 52 cigarettes and as much tar as 27 to 102 cigarettes, Anne Buttigieg, the Health Department's senior occupational therapist and project coordinator, said.

She unveiled the local results of the Help-COmets study, conducted among EU member states as part of the Help Campaign aimed at persuading people to quit smoking, or not to start.

The study, revealed during a press conference yesterday, required EU citizens to volunteer to have their breath tested in order to measure tobacco-related carbon monoxide exhaled (COex).

The aim was to provide an interactive and entertaining method for people to recognise the effects of tobacco smoke on their health.

Volunteers were asked what type of tobacco they had smoked last. In Malta, 15 was the average age of those who mentioned shisha, also known as hookah or nargile. This contrasted with the study's preliminary results, compiled a year ago, when youngsters did not mention it, Ms Buttigieg said.

The average age of people who said they had recently smoked roll-ups was 29, for cigarettes it was 36, for cigars 46 and for the pipe 60.

No one mentioned smoking cannabis. In line with last year's preliminary readings, the study showed that the COex levels among Maltese smokers measured in public places stood at 22.5 parts per million (ppm), when compared to the EU's maximum tolerance for ambient air pollution of 8.5 ppm.

Non-smokers in public areas had a 5.2 ppm count.

In the work place, which included the University, smokers' COex measured 11.7 ppm while that of non-smokers was 2.5 ppm. Smokers' COex tested in health-related departments was of 15.5 ppm and 1.6 ppm for non-smokers.

Malta had the third highest participation rate among the EU27, with 2,132 people who volunteered to get their breath measured for CO - an odourless, colourless gas that interferes with the delivery of oxygen in the blood to the rest of the body.