Researchers from the Oral Health Sciences Centre (OHSC), Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, recently published a study on the online availability of herbal hookahs/ cigarettes/bidis, in an international peer-review journal — Tobacco Control.
This study is one of the pioneering researches on herbal smoking products and is rapidly gaining the attention of researchers and policymakers globally. The study revealed that the consumption of herbal flavoured hookahs is increasing the risk of cancer in young people.
These products are being marketed as health-promoting products, which is a matter of great concern, says Prof Krishan Gauba, Head, OHSC-PGIMER. The study reported that cheap herbal hookahs, cigarettes and bidis of herbs wrapped in tendu leaves are readily available on the online sites and marketed as a safe alternative to the traditional cigarette.
The fact is that though these products do not contain any nicotine or tobacco, but have other potentially harmful substances, and may act as a gateway product to conventional tobacco products, says Dr Arpit Gupta, a faculty from PGIMER. Therefore, it is necessary to immediately ban its production and sale.
Prof Krishna said that the study revealed that in the last 10 years, the usage of herbal flavoured hookahs by the youth has increased significantly and is becoming the leading cause of cancer. In this study, Google, Yahoo and Bing search engines were used to find retail web pages offering herbal smoking products, including cigarettes and bidis. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of the webpages sold herbal cigarettes; 12% sold herbal bidis; and 26% sold herbal shisha/hookah.
Forty-three websites (59%) listed health benefits in their product descriptions, of which 41%claimed the benefits to be based on complementary medicine; the remainder were manufacturers’ own claims. Claims included use as a smoking cessation aid, a stress reliever, and to ease respiratory symptoms, including Covid-19. Other claims included use as a mood enhancer, treatment for jet lag, concentration or energy booster, and digestive aid. The study also emphasises that although claimed as a healthy alternative to conventional cigarettes, these still contain potentially harmful chemicals and the exhaled carbon monoxide may affect the people in immediate vicinity.
