Secondhand smoke at shisha bars dangerous for workers

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Wednesday 27 Jan 2016 - 16:57 Makkah mean time-17-4-1437 New York, (IINA) - A new study confirmed that employees who work at shisha bars are exposed to extremely dangerous levels of secondhand smoke, UPI reported. The study found that an employee’s health and the air quality at the bars were shown to mirror the effects of heavy smoking and extended exposure to secondhand smoke. Shisha, also called hookah, is smoked in water pipes and comes in fruit and other flavors, and often is tobacco-based but can also be made with herbs and molasses. Pieces of coal are lit and placed on top of the shisha to keep it burning while people smoke it through hoses connected to it. "Hookah use is often exempt from clean indoor air laws that protect people from secondhand smoke", said Dr. Terry Gordon, a professor at New York University Langone Medical Center. "Ours is the first study that links poor hookah bar air quality to damaging effects in workers, and the results recommend closer monitoring of this industry to protect the public". Researchers collected air samples during work shifts of 10 people employed at shisha bars in New York. They measured for fine particulate matter, fine black carbon, carbon monoxide, and nicotine. The workers also were tested before and after shifts for blood pressure, heart rate, markers of smoking and secondhand smoke, inflammatory cytokines in blood, and tumor necrosis factor. Air from the bars showed substances in the air typical of indoor smoking, including nicotine particulates, and the employees showed the effects of secondhand smoke such as significantly higher levels of exhaled carbon dioxide. The amount of pollutants in the air was found to be proportional to the number of people smoking, and the number of water pipes in use, researchers reported. "I would suspect that if you went into the vast majority of hookah places it's going to be tobacco", Thomas Merrill, general counsel for the health department, told am New York. "I'm not surprised these are the results we got". AG/IINA