KUWAIT: Passive smoking has long been a problem for non-smokers visiting local diwaniyas. Indeed, evidence from research in this field carried out by a member of Kuwait's anti-smoking committee

Dr. Adel Mullah Hussein indicates that being exposed to the smoke from four cigarettes has the same effect as smoking one cigarette oneself.

Several diwaniya owners have therefore taken steps to stub out this health risk in the gathering places, with Kuwaiti citizen Fahad Al-Me'jel who owns the prestigious Al-Sabahi Diwaniya in Faiha, telling Al-Qabas that smoking "has been banned in our diwaniya for years now," adding that the diwaniya is "100 percent smoke-free.

Passive smoking, the involuntary inhalation of smoke from others' cigarettes, cigars or pipes, is estimated to kill 600,000 people per year worldwide (with approximately 64 percent of those victims being female), while smoking kills four million per year, almost four times more than the 1.25 million killed in traffic accidents.

Dr. Hussein asserted that many non-smoking diwaniya guests suffer from heart disease and other conditions as a result of passive smoking. Diwaniya owners are aware, however, that banning smoking in their diwaniyas is not an easy policy to enforce and comes with the attendant risk of losing those guests who smoke, who might simply choose to visit other diwaniyas where smoking is still allowed.

Another Kuwaiti diwaniya owner, Suleiman Al-Mulla, has got round this by introducing a tent near his diwaniya where the smokers can go to practice their habit, while keeping the diwaniya a smoke-free zone.

Al-Mulla, a non-smoker, explained that he decided to ban smoking in the diwaniya after suffering a stroke, which he attributes to passive smoking, but decided on the compromise solution since he didn't want to lose guests who smoke by banning it completely. "I don't want to lose guests who've been regulars at my diwaniya for three decades," he pointed out.

Some other diwaniya owners who are smokers themselves have still banned the habit at their diwaniyas. One citizen, Ali Bin Nakhi, who describes himself as a heavy smoker, explains that he decided to implement a 'No Smoking' policy in his diwaniya to protect guests' health. He's put a large 'No Smoking' sign in the diwaniya to ensure that the ban is enforced, but adds, "I still smoke heavily outside the diwaniya!

Other owners have introduced inventive strategies to discourage smoking in their diwaniyas. One citizen, Nawaf Al-Rashid, who's successfully turned his diwaniya into a smoke-free zone, revealed, "I began by gradually reducing the reducing the number of ashtrays inside the diwaniyas," explaining that he believes that smokers will subconsciously develop the urge to smoke once they spot an ashtray on the table in front of them, but "without an ashtray they won't be able to smoke.

Since the beginning of the World Cup tournament, which has seen heated debate in diwaniyas and caf�s across Kuwait, as elsewhere, another and potentially far more harmful smoking habit has been growing in popularity locally, with many people smoking shisha (hookah) pipes; according to the World Health Organization, smoking one shisha pipe has the same effect as smoking 200 cigarettes.

Although smoking bans continue to be implemented in caf�s and other social gathering places, as private premises diwaniyas are unaffected by government legislation, with any decision on whether or not to ban smoking being entirely the owner's prerogative. - Kuwait Times