Accra: The Central Regional Office of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) on a two-day campaign against tobacco, has cautioned the youth against smoking shisha, e-cigar, cigarettes and other forms of tobacco products labelled as harmless.
According to Ghana News Agency, the FDA warned that shisha was very harmful to health as it contained substantial amounts of carcinogens and nicotine, dispelling the notion that it posed no harm because it was flavoured and passed through water first. 'There is no safe form of tobacco. The volume of smoke inhaled in an hour-long shisha session is estimated to be equivalent to smoking about 100 to 200 sticks of cigarettes,' stated Madam Francisca Anokye, the Central Regional Head of FDA.
She was addressing students of Jukwa Senior High School in Jukwa, Philip Quaque Girls Basic School in Cape Coast, and the Apewosiko community near the University of Cape Coast (UCC) during sensitisation exercises as part of the celebration of this year's World No Tobacco Day. World No Tobacco Day has been institutionalised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to be observed annually on May 31 to raise awareness about the harmful health, social, and economic effects of tobacco use, and to encourage people and governments to take action to reduce tobacco consumption.
This year's celebration is themed: 'Unmasking the appeal - countering nicotine and tobacco addiction.' It focuses on how the tobacco and nicotine industries design and market products including e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, synthetic nicotine devices, and flavoured items to look less harmful and attractive to children and adolescents. More importantly, the theme underscores the need for stronger policies and public awareness to expose these tactics, reduce their appeal, and reduce nicotine addiction among the youth.
Madam Anokye, who led the staff of FDA for the exercise, stressed that emerging tobacco products like vapes, heated tobacco products, and nicotine pouches were not safer alternatives to traditional smoking as they caused conditions like lung cancer, heart disease, higher heart rate, and blood pressure. Globally, about eight million people die each year from tobacco use, out of which 1.2 million are from second-hand smoke. In the case of Ghana, tobacco use is responsible for approximately 6,700 deaths every year, translating to about 93 men and 39 women dying every week, she noted.
The FDA head indicated that the emerging tobacco products had been proscribed by the country's Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851) due to their harmful and addictive nature. People who contravened the law could face a fine of GHS9,000 or a jail term not exceeding three years, she warned. Madam Anokye called for a concerted effort in the fight against tobacco, urging citizens to be ambassadors of the campaign. She encouraged celebrities and social media influencers to reject brand ambassadorial offers and sponsorships from nicotine and tobacco industries while urging social media companies to prohibit advertisements, promotion, and sponsorship by those industries.