A week ago we highlighted the health hazards of Shisha. We had information that Mailu was to ban it, so we had to prepare Kenyans in advance. Today we have a recap of what we wrote, here is what Shisha can do to your body.
A habitual shisha smoker might breathe in much more poisonous fumes during an hour-long session than a typical cigarette smoker inhales in a few days.
Shisha pipes use tobacco sweetened with fruit or molasses sugar, which makes the smoke more aromatic than cigarette smoke. Popular flavourings include apple, plum, coconut, mango, mint, strawberry and cola. Wood, coal, or charcoal is burned in the shisha pipe to heat the tobacco and create the smoke because the fruit syrup or sugar makes the tobacco damp.
When you smoke shisha, you and anyone sitting near you are breathing in smoke which releases toxins including carbon monoxide and heavy metals –reducing your body’s ability to carry oxygen around in your blood.
Shisha damages different body organs. Its smoke is associated with increased risk of disease including cancer, heart disease, lung disease and many other deadly ailments. It might not be noticeable now but the harmful chemicals are already slowly damaging certain parts of the body of a Shisha user.