A FORUM aimed at spreading awareness on the hazards of electronic cigarettes will be held later this month.

A competition of short films on spreading awareness of the potential dangers of the habit and known medical concerns will be part of the online conference scheduled for November 30.

The outcome of the forum, organised by the Northern Municipal Council, will be raised to authorities concerned to be added to the government measures to tackle and help people quit their nasty nicotine habits.

“The conference aims to shed light on the harms of smoking and will also focus on electronic sheesha,” Northern Municipal Council chairman Ahmed Al Kooheji told the GDN.

“The topic will be addressed from the health, environmental and municipal points of view.

“Recommendations from the conference will be raised to authorities concerned to add to measures to help people quit smoking cigarettes and sheesha.

“Our aim is to create a clean, smoke-free environment and to help smokers quit.”

The forum was proposed by council member and the council’s technical committee chairman Abdullah Al Qubaisi who said a surge in the number of smokers, especially among the young, led him to take the step.

“We see the trend increasing, which is not helping our younger generation, and we see a definite need for raising awareness among parents,” he said.

“The municipalities must also adopt sterner measures to limit the spread of such habits, especially in public.

“The aim is to feature experts including anti-smoking specialists, doctors and social activists.

“We will have a specialist doctor to talk about smoking and its negative impacts on health, an environmental specialist to talk about the environmental harms of smoking and also a municipal official to talk on the measures taken to curb smoking.

“The forum will feature a presentation about the harms of e-cigarettes and sheeshas and its spread among young people.

Presentation

“It will also see a presentation on municipal service work and licences for these gadgets.”

Many people turn to electronic cigarettes as a way to ease the transition from traditional cigarettes to not smoking at all.

However, nicotine is the primary agent in both and it is highly addictive.

Nicotine is also a toxic substance. It raises blood pressure and spikes adrenaline, which increases heart rate and the likelihood of having a heart attack.

There are many unknowns about vaping, including what chemicals make up the vapour and how they affect physical health over the long term. Emerging data suggests links to chronic lung disease and asthma.

Among youth, e-cigarettes are more popular than any traditional tobacco product. In the US, for example, it was reported that e-cigarette use among high school students had increased by 900 per cent, and 40pc of young e-cigarette users had never smoked regular tobacco.

Mr A Qubaisi said that they plan to award prizes for the three top related short films which will be selected by a specialist jury.

“The competition of short films is aimed at spreading awareness on the dangers of e-cigarettes and sheeshas,” he said, adding that contest details will be announced shortly.

“Through the contest we aim to mobilise artists to create a media network to raise awareness and warn people about the dangers of smoking.”

SOURCE:  GDNONLINE