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Published: November 17, 2009 11:44 pm
Readers' Forum: Nov. 18, 2009
Using hookah as dangerous as smoking cigs
Contrary to popular belief, hookah smoking is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking. In fact, hookah smoking poses just as much risk (if not more) to the health of the smoker as well as those in the same vicinity. Many advocates of hookah smoking will tell you that there is no tar in hookah smoke; they will also tell you that there is less nicotine. The truth is, in as little as 45 minutes of hookah smoking, a person can be exposed to as much nicotine and tar as in one pack of cigarettes, according to the Bacchus Network. Hookah boasts 2 to 4 percent nicotine as compared to a cigarette’s 1 to 3 percent, and we all know how addictive cigarettes are.
The concern of many experts is that hookah smoking is just a gateway to cigarette smoking much as cigarette smoking is a gateway to other drugs. Individuals will partake of hookah in hookah bars and find that after their tolerance of nicotine rises, they need more to get the same effect. It isn’t realistic to think that one can be at a hookah bar 24/7 or carry a hookah around for use throughout the day, therefore other nicotine delivery devices will be sought after, such as cigarettes, spit or spitless tobacco. A dream come true for Big Tobacco. And since the majority of hookah bars are popping up near college campuses, the tobacco industry indirectly scores the young users they have so tirelessly preyed upon for so many years.
The frontal lobe of the brain is not fully developed until the mid-20s. This part of the brain is responsible for judgment, impulse control, initiation and spontaneity. When one considers that some of the most frequent visitors of hookah bars don’t yet have a fully formed frontal lobe, you have a recipe for poor choices and addiction.
A peer-reviewed study published in Pediatrics, the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, points to another concern with hookah use: the spread of infectious diseases (think H1N1, mono and herpes, etc.). Before partaking in the use of hookah, one may first want to consider if the mouthpieces and pipes of the hookah have been properly sterilized. Is sterilization of these devices even required and regulated in hookah bars?
— Carrie Evans,
Program Director for Tobacco Prevention and Cessation
CHANCES … for Indiana Youth
Motorcyclists raise $10,000 for charitable clinic
For 11 years now the Wabash Valley Motorcycle Club has collected donations from surrounding counties for St. Ann’s Clinic.
St. Ann’s Clinic provides medical care to people who have no insurance and no support by either Medicare or Medicaid for their medical needs. The clinic operates solely on donations with local doctors and nurses donating their time.
This year, 2009, has been Wabash Valley Motorcycle Club’s best year in helping St. Ann’s Clinic. The Club collected, through our generous donors, over $10,000.
Wabash Valley Motorcycle Club wishes to sincerely thank all clubs, restaurants, organizations, businesses and individuals who participated in our 2009 benefit for St. Ann’s.
— Steve Johnston, president
Wabash Valley
Motorcycle Club
Thanks to media, customers for summer support
Many thanks to Channel 2 and the Tribune-Star for the outstanding advertisement we got for opening our Grandma and Grandpa’s Ice Cream Shop last June 2.
Thanks to all the support we got from people far and wide. We had a good time visiting with old friends and making new ones. Hope to see them all again next year.
— Bill and Wanda Smith
Terre Haute
Public option offers consumers needed choice
I’m glad that Senator Evan Bayh won’t side with Republican obstructionists in a filibuster of health care reform. After all, a recent poll shows most Hoosiers want a public option (including 85 percent of all Democrats and 59 percent of all independents). Also, official reports show that a public option will lower the cost of health care reform by lowering premiums through competition.
Inclusion of a public option will mean setting up a not-for-profit health insurance provider that raises its own money by offering competitive rates in the marketplace. This will give private insurance companies incentive to lower their premiums while providing quality care.
When I contemplate the concerns voiced by opponents of the public option I think about the advantages of having a non-profit alternative and examples of other public versus private options that co-exist such as public and private colleges and universities. I attended a public university and was glad to be able to make that choice. Personally I would like to be free to do the same thing with my health care: choose to sign up for a non-profit publicly administered plan.
— Catherine Trost-Steffen
Bloomingdale
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