site.btaHealth Ministry to Take Measures to Limit Use of Hookah among Minors

Sofia, August 25 (BTA) - The Health Ministry is planning measures to limit the use of hookah among minors in Bulgaria. The measures will be proposed by an interagency working group whose formation was initiated by the Ministry amid a growing hookah fad among teenagers in this country.

While the sale of cigarettes is prohibited to anybody under the age of 18 in Bulgaria and an indoor smoking ban has been in effect for five years now, the use of hookah is not regulated by the Bulgarian legislation. This has allowed a hookah craze among schoolgoers as young as 11 or 12 to go unchecked and hookah bars have been mushrooming in recent years to cater to the growing population of teenage patrons.

On August 25, Deputy Health Minister Svetlana Yordanova and experts from the Ministry and the National Centre for Public Health and Analyses discussed the available scientific data about the health hazards associated with the use of hookah. The conclusions from this discussion will be used during the first meeting of the interagency working group which has been scheduled for August 30 with participants from the Ministries of the Economy, the Interior, Agriculture and Education, as well as medical professionals and local government officials.

As soon as the working group is ready with its proposals, the Health Ministry will put forward legislation regulating the use of hookah and herbal products for smoking.

The protection of public health in general and child health in particular is among the priorities of the government in its tenure strategy until 2020.