Smoking hookahs is more hazardous than smoking cigarettes and its toxic and poisonous mix can even cause death, the BMC’s latest affidavit filed in the Bombay High Court says.
Quoting Internet reports, the affidavit says “hookah contains noxious, addictive, adulterated and poisonous concoction (which is otherwise unfit for human consumption and not even classified as food product) and which is likely to cause diseases, disability and death because of the highly toxic, poisonous and gaseous matter.”
The affidavit was filed in a petition moved by Narinder Chadha, owner of a Khar restaurant, Kosmic at Evergreen, challenging the BMC’s move threatening to cancel the restaurant’s license if it did not stop serving hookah. The petition pointed out that the law permits a restaurant with a seating capacity of more than 30 people to have a smoking section and that the BMC lacked jurisdiction to ban hookahs. Mocha in Churchgate has filed a petition challenging BMC’s action.
However, granting a breather to hookah parlours, the BMC on Tuesday told the HC that it would issue a show-cause notice to restaurants before taking any action to stop the sale of hookahs. BMC counsel Anil Sakhare said if the sale of hookahs was to be stopped, the civic body would pass a reasoned order. In case the order went against the restaurants, it would not be acted upon for seven days thereby allowing time for appeal.
Sakhare said though the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act permitted smoking of hookah, the BMC could initiate action if hookahs posed a health hazard. According to the BMC affidavit, hookahs can cause tuberculosis and pneumonia since mouth pieces are shared by multiple persons. “Hookah sessions are more threatening to a person’s health than smoking cigarettes.
“Each hookah session lasts from 20 to 80 minutes and consists of 50 to 200 puffs. This exposes the hookah smoker to considerably more smoke over a longer period as compared to a cigarette. While the water absorbs some of the nicotine in the tobacco smoke, the smoker can be exposed to enough nicotine to cause addiction”, the affidavit read.
