Smoking experts have warned this Tuesday that a single hookah session is equivalent to inhaling the smoke of a cigarette 200 times, to which is added the risk of infection if the mouthpiece is shared, which is why hookah pipes cannot be taken. water as an alternative to tobacco.
In the webinar Unveiling Innovative Strategies. Facing Smoking from Preventive Medicine and Public Health, organized by the Spanish Society of Preventive Medicine, Public Health and Health Management (Sempspgs), its president, Manuel GarcÃa de la Vega, has focused on water pipes and vapers.
During his speech, the epidemiologist made it clear that the use of these gadgets “is as harmful as smoking cigarettes” and represents “a risk to the health of both active and passive smokers.”
“In no case should they be considered a safe alternative to tobacco, since a session with these pipes is equivalent to inhaling 200 times the smoke of a cigarette,” he warned.
Thus, hookah smoke contains high levels of carbon monoxide (CO), heavy metals and carcinogenic substances, significantly increasing the risk of developing cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), without forgetting the infections that can be caused by sharing mouthpieces. .
Regarding vapes, GarcÃa de la Vega has pointed out that even those without nicotine contain substances harmful to the lungs, such as propylene glycol and glycerin.
“The problem lies in their appeal to young people, with a variety of flavors that make them irresistible. Their use continues to expand dangerously,” criticized the president of the SEMPSPGS.
For his part, Vidal Barchilón, vice president of the National Committee for the Prevention of Smoking (CNPT), has advocated carrying out interventions from a biopsychosocial approach.
“The treatment of smoking is 4 times more cost-effective than that of high blood pressure, and 13 times more cost-effective than that of hypercholesterolemia. Intervention in smoking is the most cost-effective activity in Public Health,” he illustrated.
However, and despite the evidence, intervention in smoking “is very deficient” at all levels of care, even in Primary Care, when its professionals reach a proportion of the smoking population only surpassed by the media.
Finally, Francisco Salvador Pascual, president of the CNPT, has referred to the challenges that our country still has to face to reduce the prevalence of tobacco consumption to 5% in the year 2040, such as updating and implementing the Plan Comprehensive Smoking Policy, from which updated legislation must emerge that replaces or complements that of 2010.
“We cannot be left behind in the fight against smoking, since success depends largely on the applicable legislative measures. It would be important for all measures to be agreed upon with the different parliamentary groups, with the political parties and with society in general. , Has invited.
