Hookah research reveals cancer-causing agents; N.Y. elected official wants shops banned

Mark D. Stein

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Puffing on a hookah may be a relaxing recreational activity, but one recent study might have smokers looking for a new hobby.

A report earlier this month from the American Association for Cancer Research revealed that young adults who smoked water pipes in hookah bars had elevated levels of nicotine, cotinine, tobacco-related cancer-causing agents, and volatile organic compounds (VOC) in their urine, and this may increase their risk for cancer and other chronic diseases.

Just a single evening of water pipe smoking in a hookah bar showed that young men and women had in their urine a 73-fold increase in nicotine; fourfold increase in cotinine; twofold increase in NNAL, a breakdown product of a tobacco-specific nitrosamine, NNK, which can cause lung and pancreatic cancers; and 14 to 91 percent increase in the breakdown products of VOC such as benzene and acrolein that are known to cause cancer and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, the May report stated.

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