Smoking in enclosed workplaces across Victoria has been banned for 10 years, but Victoria is the only state to allow the use of waterpipes at indoor cafes and restaurants — also known as a shisha or hookah — because of a loophole regarding the definition of tobacco products.
The Greens and the Coalition support the proposed amendment to the Tobacco Amendment Bill, set to be discussed in the Legislative Council today, that would bring waterpipes — made popular in Melbourne’s Middle Eastern and African cafes — in line with other tobacco laws nationally.
Waterpipes can elude the ban because legislation only covers tobacco products whose main ingredient is tobacco.
Fruit flavours and molasses can make up the bulk of the waterpipe mixture.
The ethnic and health leaders — including representatives from the African, Arabic and Middle Eastern communities, as well as Quit and Cancer Council Victoria — want the definition changed to cover all products containing tobacco that are designed for human consumption.
Cardiologist and the president of the Australian Lebanese Medical Association, Dr Walid Ahmar, said there was no cultural reason the loophole should not be closed, with many overseas born youth taking up the habit for the first time in Australia.
“Middle Eastern countries internationally are banning it, yet here in Melbourne the government is saying it’s a complex issue,” Dr Ahmar said.
“We know there is nicotine and tobacco in there, but because it isn’t labelled no one has a clue about what it contains.
“There is no administration of this and we’re getting 10 and 12-year-olds smoking this.”
Hume and Greater Dandenong councils are working to ban them.
Dr Ahmar said in an average hour-long waterpipe session, the person consumed the amount of chemicals equivalent of smoking 100-200 cigarettes.
But the manager of the Sydney Rd Temple of Shisha, Brian McKenzie, said his business — and many of the 20 similar cafes on the strip — would be forced to close if indoor use was banned.
“The financial loss would be enormous. We’d have seven employees out of work,” Mr McKenzie said.
“Tobacco makes up only 5-10 per cent of the mix, but many of our flavours are just herbal.”
A spokeswoman for Health Minister Jill Hennessy, Georgia Brumby, would not comment on whether the government supported the proposed amendment, but said the government was “working through the detail”.
Resource: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/leaders-call-to-close-waterpipe-loophole-over-health-concerns-on-tobacco-consumption/news-story/e1f8be509b5042cefd909bd3d7da28b8
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