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if the toxins are water soluble, but tar isn't, and tar contains the carcinogens. We believe that, compared to the typical cigarette smoker, waterpipe smokers are exposed to larger total amounts of nicotine, carbon monoxide and certain other toxins. And because the tobacco is burning at a lower temperature, it is more tolerable to inhale deeply, and in fact you need more force to pull air through the high resistance of the water pathway. That means the tobacco smoke can be penetrating deeper in a person's respiratory tract than cigarette smoke does. The damage could be even worse than seen in cigarette smokers, but we haven't done studies long enough to quantify the true cancer risk." 10. According to Dr. Loffredo, another concern is that hookah use may represent a loophole around city and state laws banning smoking in public places. 11. While California Labor Code section 6404.5 generally bans indoor smoking at restaurants and bars, it exempts smoking inside retail or wholesale tobacco shops and private smokers' lounges. It is unclear how substantial the sale of tobacco for offsite consumption must be to qualify for this exemption. While the City is currently studying this issue, the Public Health Institute's Technical Assistance Legal Center, funded by the California Department of Health Services, recommends that this exception should only be available to a business that derives seventy-five percent (75%) or more of gross sales receipts from the sale of tobacco products and tobacco paraphernalia. H. If hookah parlors are permitted in the City and left unregulated, they will pose a serious threat to the public interest, health, safety and welfare for the following reasons: 1. Hookah parlors established in other cities have been associated with increases in noise, loitering, public drinking, possession of illegal weapons, underage drinking, and arson. 2. Unregulated hookah parlors could exacerbate the inherently dangerous behavior of tobacco use around non-tobacco users; diminish the protection of children from exposure to smoking and tobacco while they increase the potential for minors to associate smoking and tobacco with a healthy lifestyle; and weaken the protection of the public from smoking and tobacco-related pollution. 3. Hookah parlors if allowed in the City under the current state of the City's regulations will have adverse secondary effects on surrounding properties, including but not limited to lowering property values and introducing incompatible land uses to existing neighborhoods. I. In order to prevent frustration of said studies and the implementation thereof, the public interest, health, safety and welfare require the immediate enactment of this Ordinance No. NS-2735 Page 3 of 5