Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony is urging people to not try alternative methods of smoking such as Hookah, Vape and so on since they all contain nicotine, a substance which remains harmful to the body.
Minister Anthony during its COVID-19 Update and on the heels of the World No Tobacco Day, under the theme, Protect the Environment, explained that the said alternatives still are harmful and should not be used.
“One of the things that people are trying to market is to use other forms of getting nicotine into the body. Nicotine is very addictive, Nicotine will cause psychological and eventually physical addition, or physical dependence.
“Therefore whether you are vaping a hookah or one of the other methods that are being popularized, the fact is that you are still consuming substances that are dangerous to your health,” Minister Anthony said.
The Minister said that over the years, like tobacco, the dangers of smoking using these alternative methods are documented.
Under the laws of Guyana in the tobacco legislation, provision is provided for such alternation smoking and should be applied.
With 12% of adults being smokers in Guyana, smoking in a public space, the labelling of the product, among other regulations were put place to have some regulation of the industry.
Those laws and others, according to the Minister of Health, are not followed and this is something that should be looked into
Additionally, Minister Anthony said that smokers should also seek methods of protecting themselves, especially at a time of the COVID-19 pandemic since the risk of getting more ill or dying faster remains a big factor.
“Coronavirus when it infects, goes through the upper airways and eventually makes it down to the lower airways and disseminate to other organs of the body.
“So, given how its transmitted and gets into the body one can see the linkages between coronavirus disease and the person who smokes. If you have an underlying condition obviously it can create more problems for smokers.
“So, it is something that smokers should bear in mind, that they would be at increased risk based on their underling illnesses and their high risk of smoking already.”
Minister Anthony added that given the conditions more and more risks of several illnesses will pop up.
“Giving the fact that smokers will have a lot of underlying issues, they are more at high risk for cancer more at high risk for cardiovascular diseases, more at higher risk for the chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and so forth.”,
The Minister emphasized that while smoking is bad for the health of people, it remains a process to end what has been a been a world issue for decades.
