Why Smoking shisha is 10 times more deadly than cigarettes(MUST READ)

Smoking shisha is a habit that a growing number of people are adopting. But experts warn that it is not a safe alternative to cigarettes. In fact, they say the water pipe is as dangerous as cigarettes.

According to the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa, people who smoke shisha suffer effects of nicotine and high carbon monoxide levels, which are 10 times higher than those who smoke ordinary cigarettes.

According to research carried out by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2007, the volume of smoke inhaled in an hour-long shisha session is estimated to be the equivalent of smoking between 100 and 200 cigarettes.

What is shisha?
Shisha, a water-pipe in which fruit-scented tobacco is burnt using coal, and then passed through a flamboyant water vessel and inhaled through a tube, is popular in many Arab countries.

Dr Possy Mugyenyi, the manager for the Centre for Tobacco Control (CTCA) in Africa, says many youth have been misled to think that shisha is a mild version of tobacco which has no effects, leading many to consume it in huge amounts. In several popular joints around Kampala, it is common to find people, mostly the youth, hanging around a pot of shisha.

To them, it is a sign of social belonging and symbol of maturity.

More deadly than tobacco
“Shisha is 10 times more deadly than tobacco and is less likely to be smelt or felt because it is scented.

It contains about 50 elements including nicotine, carbon monoxide, and arsenic that are dangerous to the body,” explains Dr Mugyenyi.

“Youth have been made to believe that it is not toxic, and in fact many have abandoned cigarettes in favour of shisha. What they do not know is that shisha kills,”adds Dr Mugyenyi.

Other components of cigarettes include poisonous gases like ammonia and hydrogen cyanide, cancer causing chemicals like benzene and vinyl chloride, and toxic metals like chromium and cadmium.

With a bill yet to be tabled in Parliament on the control and use of tobacco and its products, new findings from CTCA suggest that the number of youth who are taking to the habit of using tobacco-related products is rising.Although tobacco smoking is said to have reduced between 2006 and 2011, by about seven per cent, a significant number of 15 per cent males and three per cent females are still smoking.

Smoking is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, and other forms of cancer, and contributes to the severity of pneumonia, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. Further, secondhand smoke may adversely affect health and aggravate illnesses.

Prof Ben Twinomugisha, from Makerere University’s School of Law notes that urgent measures need to be put in place to control and regulate the production, sale and use of tobacco and related products.

He says that legislation should be supplemented by regulations and bye-laws.

Signs of mental illness need prompt attention

New York: When should society intervene if a person shows signs of mental illness?

As with the shooters at Virginia Tech University, in Tucson, Arizona and in Aurora, Colorado, there were ample warnings that Aaron Alexis was experiencing mental distress before he killed 12 people at Washington’s Navy Yard.

Police in Newport, Rhode Island, did nothing to help Alexis when he complained about hearing voices and being zapped by skin-vibrating microwaves.

They were not legally obligated to. In 1975, the US Supreme Court ruled in O’Connor v Donaldson that the state “cannot constitutionally confine . . . a non-dangerous individual who is capable of surviving safely in freedom by himself or with the help of willing and responsible family members or friends.”

That decision established the United States’ legal threshold of posing a danger to one’s self or others.

The next year, a federal court ruled in Lessard v Schmidt that involuntary commitment is permissible only when “there is an extreme likelihood that if the person is not confined he will do immediate harm to himself or others.” The court required that in civil commitment proceedings people with mental illness receive all the protections accorded to criminal suspects — including the right to counsel, the right to remain silent, exclusion of hearsay evidence and a standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

These decades-old rulings have had a chilling impact.

In 2002, a Fairfax County,  emergency room turned away because a college student, who was delusional and had been hospitalised twice for treatment of bipolar disorder, as he was deemed not sick enough to hospitalise. Police advised his father to claim he was dangerous to get him admitted. Three years later, the father called the county’s Mobile Crisis Unit for help but was again told that he had to wait until his son became dangerous. When he did, that unit refused to come because the dispatcher decided, based on the call, that the son was too dangerous. Instead, the police came and shot the son twice with a stun gun.

The societal fear of involuntary commitment is rooted in the One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest past, when innocents were warehoused in state asylums without legal protections and with little hope of release. But times and circumstances have changed.

Other nations have progressed to a “need for treatment” standard, which considers the potential for danger but does not require it.

Under the 1983 Mental Health Act in England and Wales, individuals can be forced into treatment if they have a mental disorder. Patients are examined by a licensed psychiatrist and a doctor, including one who has known the patient previously. If they agree that the person should be detained in the interest of his health, his safety or the protection of others, an order is presented to a social worker trained to determine whether commitment is warranted. Patients are held for up to 28 days before their cases are reviewed by a mental health tribunal composed of a doctor, lawyer and layman.

Adopting a “need for treatment” standard would enable relatives, police and mental health professionals to intervene earlier. But until the US builds and funds a community-based mental health system that provides user-friendly treatment oriented toward recovery, the threat of mass shootings will not be reduced. 

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Qatar and US to fight gender-based violence

The US Ambassador Susan L Ziadeh (right) and other officials at the workshop.

DOHA: Qatar and the US are working together to combat all forms of gender-based violence around the world, the US Ambassador Susan L Ziadeh has said.

“The US, Qatar, and key international partners have once again come together here in Doha to address a pressing global issue.

“The US and Qatar share an unyielding commitment to combating all forms of gender-based violence around the world, in order to uphold the principles embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Ziadeh told a training workshop on investigating cases of sexual and gender-based violence as international crimes which concluded on Sunday.

Stephen J Rapp, the Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, also addressed the closing session of the workshop organised by the Rule of Law and Anti-corruption Center in Doha.

Contemporary experiences of the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Syria continue to demonstrate the heartbreaking brutality of war for men, women and children, Rapp said.

“These conflicts are a stark reminder of the need to continue fighting for peace, justice and accountability.”

The training programme was a collaborative project of UN Women, Justice Rapid Response and the Institute for International Criminal Investigations with the goal of increasing the pool of experts that can be rapidly deployed to lead and participate in investigations into conflict-related gender-based crimes.

Participants hail from around the world, and upon successful completion of training they will become part of a roster of investigators available for rapid deployment upon request by governments, the UN, the International Criminal Court, and other international institutions with the jurisdiction to carry out such investigations.

High rents force many engineering firms to close

DOHA: Rising office rentals and competition from foreign rivals have forced many Qatari engineering consultancies to close shop, says the head of the local association of engineers.

Ahmad Jassem Al Jolo (pictured) said yesterday that escalating rentals of office space and the general price rise were putting immense pressure on Qatari engineering consultancy firms.

On top of it the fact that these firms must compete with their foreign rivals is forcing many of them to close operations.

“A lot of foreign engineering consultancies are entering Qatar due to a string of development projects being launched for the 2022 FIFA event, making the local market highly competitive,” said Al Jolo.

The combined impact of rising prices and competition is too much for some local consultancies to bear. 

Al Jolo praised the role being played by the Central Municipal Council (CMC) in highlighting the plight of local engineering consultancies.

The government, according to Al Jolo who heads Qatar Society of Engineers, should provide active support to local consultancies. “If nothing, they could be provided with affordable office space.”

Media reports, meanwhile, said  there are only 80 Qatari engineering consultancies at present.

To ensure that their number rises, a new law enforced in 2011 allows any Qatari (whether an engineer or not) to set up an engineering consultancy.

Experts differ on media freedom in GCC at Manama forum

DOHA: Judging from differing viewpoints presented on media freedom by speakers from the GCC countries at a forum being held in Manama, it became evident yesterday that not all member-states have a uniform stand on the issue.

While speakers from some GCC states spoke strongly in favour of a free media, those from other countries toed the official line and called for reining in the media over security concerns.

“It was quite clear, based on the viewpoints speakers from different GCC states presented on media freedom at today’s forum, that not all member-states share a similar view on the issue,” said Dr Ahmed Abul Malik.

Malik, a renowned Qatari author and journalist, moderated a key panel discussion on media freedom and the issue of national security in the GCC states at a forum in Manama. 

The two-day conference being held on the sidelines of the 21s meeting of GCC information ministers kicked off in the Bahraini capital yesterday.

It is being attended by a large number of media professionals, experts and educationists, aside from officials from the six GCC states.

The event assumes significance since it is being organized in the wake of the role of social media in Arab Spring and fast-spreading use of social media in the GCC states.

Interestingly, Samira Rajab, Bahrain’s information minister, while opening the forum, defended the right of a state to “protect itself” against what she said was an avalanche of false and misleading information spread by vested interests through the social media.

“Unleashing wrong and misleading information and propaganda against a state can have dangerous implications for its future,” she cautioned, implying the need for legislations to rein in the media.

Backing her up, a senior interior ministry official from Bahrain, Colonel Mohamed bin Dina, said media freedom didn’t mean it can infringe upon the freedom of others. Current trends in the Arab world show that the social media was being used to incite sectarian passions and ideological extremism, he said.

The national security begins with people’s security, he said, justifying the need to rein in the media with legislations. 

“Social media by itself doesn’t threaten national security. It is important to see who is using it and for what purpose,” said Al Dina.

The GCC countries are leading the Arab world in the use of social media. Citing the example of Bahrain, he said between April and June of this year social media users in Bahrain alone had risen to one million (half the country’s population).

Another official from a GCC state, Isa Abdul Rahman, told the forum that some 10.8 million people tweeted daily in the Arab world and 47 percent of them were from Saudi Arabia’s capital city of Riyadh alone.

“So there is indeed the need for legislation to regulate the social media and protect national security,” he said.

But journalist-speakers rubbished the idea of reining in social media with the help of law and said such efforts would prove futile.

Saudi columnist Saleh Al Shahi said the vast majority of social media users in the GCC were the youth. “So whatever the interior ministries do to keep checks on them would prove a waste of time,” he said.

Jaber Al Harami, editor-in-chief of Qatar’s Al Sharq newspaper, also pooh-poohed the idea of legally controlling social media. “Try it, you will not succeed,” he hinted.

The UAE’s prominent scribe, Mohamed Al Hammadi, said too much concern for national security meant that journalists in the region were working under tremendous pressure.

Saudi Arabia’s Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist known for his boldness, minced no words: “The media is a weapon in the hands of the authorities and some others. They are using it to control the flow of information”.

Some speakers, seemingly annoyed by the idea of linking media freedom to national security, questioned the very concept of national security.

“Is it the security of a state or of an authority or security of individuals? What is national security? We must have a clear definition of the term,” said a speaker.

Human rights body rubbishes abuse claims

Chairman of the Qatar National Human Rights Committee Ali bin Samikh Al Marri (centre) at a news conference in Doha yesterday.

DOHA: The Chairman of Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) yesterday denied claims by London’s Guardian newspaper that Qatar was treating Nepalese construction workers like ‘slaves’.

Ali bin Samikh Al Marri said the allegations, made last week, were totally erroneous.

“There is no slavery or forced labour in Qatar,” he said at a press conference.

“The information that The Guardian reported is false and the numbers cited by them are exaggerated.”

The Guardian report last Thursday said dozens of Nepalese workers have died while working in Qatar in recent weeks, raising concerns about the Gulf state’s preparations to host the World Cup soccer in 2022.

Quoting documents obtained by the Nepalese embassy in Doha, the Guardian said thousands of Nepalese -- at 370,000 the second largest group of labourers in Qatar after the Indians -- faced exploitation and abuses amounting to “modern-day slavery”.

Marri admitted there had been some problems but added he and the government were doing their utmost to put these right.

“There have been some problems, owing to the fact that there are 44,000 businesses in the country,” he said.

“But I can assure you that the authorities are constantly making efforts to resolve the problems.”

Narinra Bad, the coordinator of the Nepalese community in the Middle East, was also present at yesterday’s press conference and he too disputed the figures the Guardian gave.

“A total of 151 Nepalese citizens have died in Qatar this year including 15 at their workplace,” he said, adding the rest had died either in car accidents or of natural causes. “In 2012, Nepalese deaths in Qatar numbered 276, including 55, that is 20 percent, at their workplace,” AFP quoted Bad as saying.

Meanwhile, the NHRC has decided to set up an office exclusively for the Nepalese community to receive complaints from its members for redress, said chairman Ali bin Samikh Al Marri. 

“No slavery and no forced labour in implementing FIFA 2022 projects,” he said adding that the NHRC had forwarded the death figures as reported by Guardian and the BBC to the Qatari government for verification.

Nepal envoy denies reports about abuse

DOHA: The outgoing Nepalese Ambassador, Dr Maya Kumari Sharma (pictured), yesterday refuted media reports that she had described Qatar as an ‘open jail’ for workers or spoken to journalists from the Guardian newspaper and the BBC. 

The reports are fabricated, Sharma told local journalists at her residence in the West Bay area in Doha.  However, she admitted that she had met a group of Nepalese journalists six months ago but maintained that the meeting was unofficial. 

She claimed that the Nepalese journalists had a “political agenda” against her, recorded the conversation without her knowledge and misquoted her in their reports. “I didn’t give any interview to the Guardian or the BBC. They approached me, and I discouraged any interview, but they collected information from my embassy and wrote against the embassy and me,” said Sharma.  

“A group of Nepalese journalists had asked for permission to come and meet me, but I told them not to come, I told them that there is no permission from the Qatar News Agency, but I don’t know how they came.

“They asked me for an interview, but I refused, then they left and came back after eight days — a woman and a man. This happened six months ago.”

Sharma said her conversation with the journalists was edited to misquote her. “They kept the camera without my knowledge… They were talking to me casually but they were recording the conversation. They asked if Qatar was an open jail. Then I said yes but this is in your language (words) but in my words it’s Khafala, the legal system here, we should respect the Qatari law… However, after the word ‘but’ they cut (edited the conversation).”

Sharma admitted she had been recalled by the Nepalese government due to the controversial media reports and said she would leave Doha on Sunday.

Around 400,000 Nepalese workers are in Qatar, mostly employed in the construction sector.

Asked if the controversy about Nepalese workers would stop more workers from Nepal coming here, Sharma, after a pause, said: “No, I don’t think the Nepalese government will make such a decision.”

However, she claimed that Nepalese workers here faced several problems, and said, “189 have died, a majority of them due to cardiovascular arrest, and 16 committed suicide last year, and it’s a serious issue”.

She said the issue had been taken up with H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser.

“When I went to Wajba Palace for Eid, I spoke about the problems with Her Highness Sheikha Moza. I told her that so many Nepalese workers had died due to climatic conditions and workers cannot explain themselves to doctors as they cannot speak Arabic. Sheikha Moza listened to me seriously and asked me to come to her office, but I couldn’t meet her as she was busy with foreign visits,” said Sharma.

The ambassador stressed that relations between Qatar and Nepal were strong and Qatar had been providing a large number of opportunities for Nepalese workers.

Technical checks for old cars only in Industrial Area

DOHA: All old vehicles — 2000 model or older — seeking renewal of road permit will now have to undergo the mandatory technical check up at the main inspection centre in the Industrial Area.

The Traffic Department has issued a circular to all the inspection centres in this regard, Al Sharq reported yesterday.

Earlier vehicle owners were allowed to do the annual check- up at any of the authorised centres. The satellite centres are located in Al Wakra, Abu Hamour and Al Khor.

The reason cited for the decision is that the satellite centres do not have the required facilities to conduct elaborate inspections, especially facilities for a proper closer probe of the vehicle from beneath. This can endanger safety, especially in the case of old vehicles. The new decision is expected to reduce the pressure on the satellite centres, while the Industrial Area facility will now see more vehicles.

All the technical inspection centres are run by Woqod, which a few years ago took over the erstwhile Qatar Technical Inspection Company.  Woqod is in the process of establishing more inspection centres at some major petrol stations. The Peninsula