Aimed at protective “public health and youngsters”, the Karnataka government has decided to enforce a ban on hookah smoking, “given the serious health risks associated” with it, Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao introduced on Thursday.
In a post on X, the Minister said, “Statewide ban on Hookah to protect public health and young people. Given the extreme health risks associated with hookah smoking, we’ve taken decisive action with the aid of banning Hookah smoking across the country”.
Karnataka Banned on sale and consumption of Hookah
The Karnataka health branch Wednesday issued a notification banning the sale and consumption of Hookah with instant impact. In view of protecting ‘public health’, the government has banned the sale of Hookah in hookah bars citing violation of nation fireplace control and hearth safety legal guidelines. The ban also comes inside the backdrop of a fire twist of fate at a hookah bar in Koramangala ultimate year which did no longer observe hearth and safety rules.
In its order, the Karnataka government stated: “The hookah bar is a motive of state fire dangers and violates country hearth manipulate and hearth protection laws. Consumption of Hookah in accommodations, bars and eating places makes meals items unsafe for public consumption and might adversely have an effect on public health. In widespread, the sale, consumption, and advertising of hookah products known as hookah tobacco or nicotine- containing nicotine-free tobacco-free, flavored, unflavored hookah molasses, shisha and other similar names and the producing, procuring, buying and selling of the same has been banned with instantaneous impact in interest of public health in state.”
Why Hookah are banned
The state authorities also ordered that violators will be fall under COTPA (Cigarette and Tobacco Products Act ) 2003, Child Care and Protection Act 2015, Food Safety and Quality Act 2006.
The state health department highlighted that Hookah is a product this is ate up orally through a nozzle or pipe device in a sealed field. The consumption of Hookah spreads infectious diseases like herpes, tuberculosis, hepatitis, COVID-19, and other illnesses via the mouth, it stated.
The government referred to research that points out 45 minutes of hookah smoking is equivalent to smoking 100 cigarettes and is dangerous to health. According to the record of the World Health Organization, Hookah is an addictive substance that consists of an excessive amount of nicotine or tobacco and molasses or flavoring materials containing the chemical carbon monoxide, which is very risky to health.
During the wintry weather consultation of the Karnataka Assembly in 2023, Karnataka’s home minister, G Parameshwara, had introduced that the country might soon give you a law to adjust hookah bars in the state.
Conclusion
Karnataka banned on tobacco products and hookah completely. Our authorities is running to construct a safer and more healthy surroundings for our destiny generations,” he added.
Also, in a comparable flow last year, the Haryana authorities announced a ban on serving Hookah to clients in inns, eating places, bars, and commercial establishments throughout the state.
