A HARD-HITTING campaign about the dangers of Shisha won Luton Borough Council an Admedia award.
The poster campaign used an image by Gingernut Creative of a shisha pipe packed with 200 cigarrette butts, representing the equivalent of an hour’s pipe puffing.
It appeared across the town to promote the message that shisha contains tobacco and is not harmless, and received a Highly Commended Creative award from Admedia.
Councillor Aslam Khan, tobacco control chamption for Luton, said: “The Tobacco Free Luton partnership is delighted to receive this award for our powerful shisha poster campaign. Shisha smoke contains chemicals known to cause lung cancer and heart disease and can affect the health and development of unborn babies and children.
“There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke so any exposure is harmful, even to second hand smoke. Yet a quick informal survey of young people in Luton suggested most of them had no idea about the potential risks of shisha smoking, such as carbon monoxide poisoning.”
Three shisha cafes were closed last year after health and safety and trading standards officers found they were not operating legally.
For more information see {http://www.healthandsafetyluton.gov.uk|Healthandsafety|healthandsafety} or call 01582 510330.
If you are already running or thinking about starting a shisha business, please see {http://www.everythingregulation.org.uk|everythingregulation|everythingregulation}