AJMAN // Limiting the amount of nicotine and tar in the tobacco used in traditional medwakh pipes and shisha could push smokers to increase their habits, doctors warned.
Although the reduction would help to reduce some of the harmful effects of tobacco, it could also lead users to smoke more, increasing the amount of tar taken into their lungs, said Dr Bassam Mahboub, a pulmonologist, allergy specialist and head of the Emirates Respiratory Society.
“Smokers will not feel the percentage of nicotine and it may push them to smoke more to compensate,” he said.
Rather than trying to make tobacco safer, he said, a better idea would be to impose higher taxes to deter use. This money could be used to fund anti-smoking programmes. Dr Mahboub also suggested reducing the number of shisha cafes.
Medwakh is the pipe used to smoke dokha, a highly concentrated tobacco that is usually mixed with herbs and spices. It is predominately smoked in the UAE and Oman. Its name is Arabic for “dizziness”.
A move to set limits on nicotine and tar, reported last week, came about because medwakh was linked to oral, lip and tongue cancers.
The move is part of a GCC initiative, said Dr Wedad Al Maidoor, head of the national tobacco control committee at the Ministry of Health.
According to Dr Al Maidoor, an awareness campaign on the dangers of smoking shisha and medwakh is due to run in conjunction with World No Tobacco Day on May 31.
A 2011 study of smokers’ habits in Abu Dhabi found that while the medwakh bowl is smaller than other pipes, the tobacco used has a high nicotine level.
Out of more than 9,000 people who took part in the survey, about 11 per cent said they smoked cigarettes, while 5.9 per cent said they smoked medwakh and 4.8 per cent shisha. About 2.5 per cent said they smoked a combination of the three.
UAE nationals had the highest prevalence for smoking medwakh, at 16.1 per cent. Among those aged between 20 and 29, the prevalence was 17.3 per cent.
Women were found to be much less likely than men to smoke the pipe. Only 0.1 per cent reported that they used it, compared with 11.5 per cent of men.
Reem Mohamad, a 21-year-old Lebanese business student who smokes shisha four times a week, said any move to make smoking safer and less addictive was a good idea.
“I agree with determining the percentage of nicotine in shisha because I smoke it for fun. I am not addicted to it and that will make me comfortable while smoking because of its lower risks on my health,” she said.
But Mohammad Saif, an Emirati businessman who smokes a medwakh pipe once an hour, did not agree with reducing the level of nicotine because, he said, it would not give the same effect and would lead him to smoke more.
Rules regarding medwakh are similar to those for cigarettes, with the pipes banned from restaurants and public places.
The UAE has strict laws regarding shisha. In Dubai, it is illegal for shisha to be sold to pregnant women or if a child under the age of 18 is present, while in UAQ, Fujairah and Abu Dhabi, cafes have been forced to move from residential areas.
Dr Naglaa Rizk, a consultant gynaecologist at Al Zahra Hospital in Dubai, said smoking decreases fertility in women because it affects the cilia, the small hairs in the fallopian tubes, and the same in men’s tubes that transport sperm.
“None of those hairs will work properly in men or women who smoke, or who are around smoke. It is an issue for passive smokers and young people who socialise around shisha cafes,” the doctor said.
“I would support any plan for a reduction in tobacco use in both sexes because it has a major affect on fertility.”
The BIO
Favourite piece of music: Verdi’s Requiem. It’s awe-inspiring.
Biggest inspiration: My father, as I grew up in a house where music was constantly played on a wind-up gramophone. I had amazing music teachers in primary and secondary school who inspired me to take my music further. They encouraged me to take up music as a profession and I follow in their footsteps, encouraging others to do the same.
Favourite book: Ian McEwan’s Atonement – the ending alone knocked me for six.
Favourite holiday destination: Italy - music and opera is so much part of the life there. I love it.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Anxiety and work stress major factors
Anxiety, work stress and social isolation are all factors in the recogised rise in mental health problems.
A study UAE Ministry of Health researchers published in the summer also cited struggles with weight and illnesses as major contributors.
Its authors analysed a dozen separate UAE studies between 2007 and 2017. Prevalence was often higher in university students, women and in people on low incomes.
One showed 28 per cent of female students at a Dubai university reported symptoms linked to depression. Another in Al Ain found 22.2 per cent of students had depressive symptoms - five times the global average.
It said the country has made strides to address mental health problems but said: “Our review highlights the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms and depression, which may long have been overlooked."
Prof Samir Al Adawi, of the department of behavioural medicine at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, who was not involved in the study but is a recognised expert in the Gulf, said how mental health is discussed varies significantly between cultures and nationalities.
“The problem we have in the Gulf is the cross-cultural differences and how people articulate emotional distress," said Prof Al Adawi.
“Someone will say that I have physical complaints rather than emotional complaints. This is the major problem with any discussion around depression."
Daniel Bardsley
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
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Rating: 3.5/5
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
