Toronto seeks to license hookah lounges
Von buycigarettes, 14:29
City licensing officials are trying to clamp down on Toronto’s hookah establishments through a series of health and cleanliness regulations, citing medical concerns over non-tobacco water pipe use. The proposed guidelines, recommended in a report going before the licensing committee on Friday, would require hookah cafés to maintain adequate air ventilation, properly sanitize pipe equipment before use and ban minors from entry. Businesses would also have to hold a water pipe establishment licence.
“There should be some regulation,” said Ilan Kritzer, owner of Sheesha Lounge and Coffee House on Bloor St. W. at Ossington Ave., adding that his business already follows the proposed rules. “Because there’s no regulation at all, there’s potential for abuse — these bars should be regulated and enforcement should be done.”
Hookah — also known as shisha, narghila or water pipe — is sold in tobacco form or as a composite of dried plants, herbs, tea leaves, preservatives and flavouring. Hookah establishments have so far avoided regulation by offering non-tobacco shisha, which does not fall under the provincial Smoke-Free Ontario Act. The 2006 legislation prohibits businesses from offering tobacco-based hookah.
The report stops short of proposing an outright ban of hookah lounges, noting research into the ill effects of non-tobacco shisha use is spotty. But after consultation with Toronto Public Health officials and anti-smoking advocates, city staff believe the health concerns are significant enough to warrant regulation. Public health officials argue that the social element of hookah cafés, where a group of friends can lounge for hours, and mainstream use among youth create a misperception that tobacco-less shisha is benign.
Not so, according to Suzanne Thibault, manager of the chronic disease injury prevention unit at Toronto Public Health. “There is some indication that whether you’re smoking non-tobacco hookah or tobacco hookah, they produce similar amounts of toxins, such as carbon monoxide, nitric oxide and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (also found in cigarettes),” Thibault said.
Moreover, licensing staff say communicable diseases can be transmitted when people share the same hookah pipe and lengthy second-hand exposure to toxins caused by burning herbs and charcoal, which is used to burn the shisha, can be dangerous. About 80 cafés, restaurants and bars in Toronto offer hookah, according to a Toronto Public Health study conducted this year.
The proposed licence would also require business owners to make available ingredient lists for their shisha. Some anti-smoking lobbyists suspect hookah lounges knowingly sell tobacco shisha. Indeed, Toronto Public Health has laid 81 charges under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act against 25 hookah businesses since 2010, according to the licensing report. Kritzer, who was consulted for the report, said he receives routine inspections from tobacco control officers, Toronto Public Health and the OPP.
Sham Ahmed, owner of Markaz, a downtown shisha lounge, said he would welcome the proposed rules, adding his business already has an over-19 age restriction. “They have these (regulations) in place for everybody but hookah establishments, we just haven’t been looked at before,” he said.
