Smoking a hookah is not like taking puffs from a cigarette

Editor,

I am responding to the Q&A with Dr. Peggy Spencer published Tuesday about the health dangers of smoking hookah. Without a doubt, smoking anything increases the created amount of cancer-causing agents called carcinogens.

However, very little evidence has established hookah smoking as being just as or more dangerous to one's health as cigarettes. For one, many high-quality hookah tobacco companies have no tar and very little nicotine at .5 percent. It can be argued that some amount of tar is created as the hookah is heated, not burned as with cigarettes. It has not been established how much tar is created and reaches the user.

In order to reduce carbon monoxide, hookah smokers can use charcoals that don't automatically light, though they are less convenient and take longer to heat up. According to a recent study published by the Harm Reduction Journal in May, carcinogen markers were low in the average hookah smoker compared to cigarette smokers. Of course, people who ingest no tobacco still have the least amount of carcinogen markers.

Like anything else, heavy hookah smoking does have substantially higher markers of carcinogens. Moderation here, like anywhere else, is important. Before ingesting any substance, any user should do his or her research, and anything in excess can be toxic.

Ashley Neyrinck

UNM student