The Chief Executive Officer of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in Ghana, Mrs Delese Mimi Darko, has stated that “just one hour of Shisha use is equivalent to smoking about 200 cigarettes.”
Darko who urged individuals to quit smoking Shisha said that eight million people die globally as a result of the use of tobacco products.
“Let us acknowledge the stark reality before us: tobacco stands as one of the foremost perpetrators of preventable death worldwide, claiming over 8 million lives annually. It’s a public health crisis that spares no one, particularly our children,” she said.
Darko who was represented by the Deputy CEO for Corporate Services Division, Mrs. Yvonne Nkrumah, in Accra on Friday to commemorate World No Tobacco Day, said a study conducted by Global Youth Tobacco 2017 showed that 8.8% of students were using tobacco products including shisha while 8.5% were using Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems like e-cigs and vapes.
According to Mrs. Darko, the tobacco industry, with its “insidious marketing strategies, preys upon our youth, ensnaring them in a web of addiction and suffering.”