AFP
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Shisha more harmful than cigarettes: experts
ABU DHABI: World health experts warned Thursday that smoking water pipes, long popular in the Middle East and North Africa and with a growing fan base elsewhere, can be more harmful than cigarettes.
“A single puff from a water pipe is nearly equal to the volume of smoke inhaled from an entire cigarette,” said The Tobacco Atlas launched at the World Conference on Tobacco OR Health in Abu Dhabi.
And World Health Organization tobacco expert Edouard Tursan d’Espaignet said “one session of shisha (water pipe) can be equal to smoking 20 to 30 cigarettes in one go, which can be very dangerous.”
The water pipe, variously known as a hubbly-bubbly, hookah, shisha or nargileh, has become a major worry for anti-tobacco campaigners as its is popularised across university campuses, overlooked by regulators.
In recent years, its use has spread to the United States, Europe and, to a lesser extent, South America.
Gemma Vestal of the WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative told AFP that while shishas were previously the domain of older males, “younger people between 18- and 24-years old living in cities and educated” are increasingly smoking them.
The chairman of pathology and laboratory medicine at the American University of Beirut, Ghazi Zaatari, says aromatic flavourings known as maasal added to the tobacco offer younger smokers a “smoother and more tolerated” alternative to the taste of traditional tobacco.
And the “water pipe has an interesting design because it somewhat engages your five senses. You’re holding the hose, there’s something you’re looking at, there is the aroma, there is the sound of the bubbling and there is this kind of sensational thing with the social gathering.”
In social gatherings that last for an average of an hour, the smoker can quickly get “hooked on it because of the nicotine.”
Moreover, the smoke from charcoal used to heat the tobacco contains toxins.
The WHO said harmful effects include impact on the “respiratory system, cardiovascular system, oral activity and teeth.”
In addition to the dangers of lung cancer, data also suggest probable associations with oral, oesophageal, gastric, and urinary bladder cancer, as well as chronic bronchitis, cardiovascular disease, stroke as well as other illnesses.
Global tobacco companies are increasingly investing in the water pipe business, experts say, while little has been done to curb their use, despite a crackdown on cigarettes.
According to The Tobacco Atlas, “water pipes fall into a less heavily or un-regulated group of tobacco products” in most countries.
“There has been a gap for a while and now hopefully, with this global effort, they (tobacco regulators) are coming back to emphasise the importance of including the water pipe in all these policies and regulations on tobacco,” Zaatari said.
Brazil has taken measures to ban flavourings, while Turkey has extended warning labelling from cigarette packets to include the water pipe.
And the ruler of the UAE emirate of Sharjah has banned the use of water pipes altogether, earning him an award this week from the WHO.
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Gisele Bundchen set to quit catwalk?
SAO PAULO: An announcement concerning the catwalk career of Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen is set to be made Wednesday amid feverish speculation she is planning to bow out as a runway model next month.
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What the color of your car says about you
DETROIT: The next time you buy a car, you might want to pause a while longer to decide what color you choose.
Top automakers throw millions of dollars at researching what the latest tastes are, and say the color of a vehicle is so important to customers that it can be the difference between buying or not.
The ongoing auto show in Detroit saw many of the classic colors — reds for Porsches and other sports cars — and a few less conventional (a Nissan Titan pickup truck decked out in “forged copper”).
But there was no mistaking the preeminence of white. Particularly at the Volkswagen stand, where several cars, the stairs and much of the furniture was white.
In a multibillion-dollar industry, nothing is put to chance and nothing is done by mistake, of course.
At least two designers in Detroit referred to the “Apple effect” — the Californian tech giant — to explain the propensity for white vehicles.
White where it’s hot
Sitting at a white table, on white chairs, in a white room, Oona Scheepers of Volkswagen told AFP: “White for cars really peaked in the 1970s and 1980s, and then all of a sudden disappeared.
“But in the last 10 years we have noticed an increase again in white. And it definitely came with the Apple iPod era because Apple started to do everything with white, and a lot of nice chrome or metal finishes.
“In combination it was really nice and fresh. But before that, white was really not selling in Europe because people associated it with delivery cars and it looked cheap.
“But the combination with metal and chrome looks fresh and completely new. White is booming worldwide.”
However, Scheepers, head of design, color and trim, said black was still Volkswagen’s best-seller — but only just.
So if one were to choose a black vehicle over a white one, what kind of person would that make you? “You could be sporty. But people in hot countries like white.
“White definitely deflects heat, but if you have a black car it can get damn hot inside. And then in a country like South Africa you often have to overtake into direct, oncoming traffic, but white is very visible.
“So it’s a safety feature as well in some countries. Metallic gray or black just melts into the color of the tar, so it is not that visible.”
‘Chinese prefer bold’
Susan Lampinen, chief designer, colors and materials, at Ford, said the color was so crucial to some people that they would buy a car purely because of that — never mind the design of the vehicle.
She too identified an Apple ripple effect in propelling white to a best-seller worldwide for Ford.
“White is very clean, very technical, very modern. So most cars look good in white,” she told AFP in Detroit, adding other popular colors included blacks and silvers, while blue is also on the up.
Lampinen identified only “slight differences” in preferences in different countries because, she said, of globalization.
Environment, culture and climate can all effect what color car someone might buy, she added.
Scheepers, however, saw stark contrasts between some countries, particularly when it comes to the United States and China.
“China is going for very, very bold colors. America is still quite subdued. White sells extremely well here and there is still a preference for champagne-toned body colors and a movement towards the reds in America as well,” she said.
“But China is going for gold, extreme greens — it’s a mixture of a green and a brown — very expressive.
“There is a new awareness in China, they are becoming very self-confident, and they are expressing themselves.”
That also applied to vehicle interiors, said Scheepers, with Chinese consumers going for much bolder designs.
Volkswagen research turned up a surprising anomaly, said Scheepers. It found that younger buyers want more sober-colored vehicles — while older consumers go for brighter ones- AFP