Haringey Council has led a clampdown on cafes offering shisha pipe smoking.

Shisha smoking health risks flagged up after Haringey raids

by Stephen Moore Wednesday, April 25, 2012
11:00 AM

Council officers are flagging up the health risks of smoking hookahs following a series of raids on shisha bars in the borough.

Police and officers from Haringey Council discovered illegally enclosed smoking shelters at one venue in Hornsey, which exposed staff and customers to second-hand smoke.

At another bar, they found illegally-imported tobacco worth more than £4,750, which was confiscated for unpaid duty.

Shisha pipes, where tobacco is smoked after being cooled when it is passed through water, can be far more harmful than cigarettes. The World Health Organisation estimates that someone smoking a shisha pipe for an hour inhales 100 times as much smoke as that from a single cigarette.

But many of the venues visited by officers did not display the health warnings required by law.

Cllr Nilgun Canver, Haringey’s cabinet member for environment, said: “Many young people use these pipes, often with fruit flavoured tobacco, and are completely unaware that they are inhaling something which is a risk to their health.

“That’s why it’s important that health warnings are displayed clearly. It’s imperative that people know what they are inhaling.”