Is smoking shisha safe?

My 20-year-old son, an undergraduate has just started smoking Shisha with friends. He claims that the habit is safe. Kindly advise me with this.

Ifeoluwa (by SMS)

Many people think that drawing tobacco smoke through water makes shisha less harmful than cigarettes, but that’s not true. In a shisha session (which usually lasts 20-80 minutes), a shisha smoker can inhale the same amount of smoke as a cigarette smoker consuming over 100 cigarettes. However, studies of tobacco-based shisha and “herbal” shisha show that smoke from both preparations contain carbon monoxide and other toxic agents known to increase the risks for smoking-related cancers, heart disease, and lung disease. It is therefore obvious that smoking hookah is bad for the health, especially if it is done more than once a week. New published research has confirmed that young adults like your son who smoke shisha have elevated levels of nicotine and other dangerous compounds in their urine.

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