NS-2763 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

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. Many hookah bar owners claim they are tobacco retailers and state law does not clearly repudiate this claim. This allows tobacco smoking inside establishments where people work, eat and drink. Hookah smoking is not a safe alternative to smoking tobacco. Smoking hookah pipes has been reported to cause oral, esophageal and lung cancer, as well as heart disease, chronic bronchitis and of course, nicotine addiction. 12. According to a report authored by Dr. Kamlesh Asotra, Ph.D., for the University of California Tobacco Related Disease Program, hookah parlors create unique problems of second hand smoke, due to the increased presence of carbon monoxide (CO), which is present both in the tobacco smoke and the burning of charcoal indoors to ignite the tobacco. Dr. Asotra reports that "It is becoming increasingly clear that, like tobacco smoking, mainstream hookah smoke and second-hand hookah smoke cause deleterious effects on reproductive systems in men and women and produce genotoxic, mutagenic, and teratogenic effects on babies of smoking parents." Many commercial tenant spaces in Santa Ana share a ventilation system with other spaces within the same building, thus allowing second hand smoke from hookahs to propagate throughout an entire building. 13. The California Legislature approved a bill this year, AB 1467, which would have expressly banned hookah parlors throughout California. This bill, which would have additionally banned cigar lounges, and smoking in hotel lobbies and meeting rooms, was vetoed by the Governor on October 14, 2007. E. If hookah parlors are permitted in the City, they will pose a serious threat to the public health, safety and general welfare for the following reasons: Ordinance No. NS-2763 Page 3 of 7