DAMMAM: Smoking shisha could cause three types of cancer in women, say leading medical experts.
The executive director of the Anti-Smoking Association “Naqa,” Dr. Mohammed bin Sulaiman Al-Mayouf, said studies show that 6.1 percent of Saudis smoke shisha, an alarming indicator that shows the power of the tobacco companies’ propaganda, which portrays smoking as a sign of urbanization and self-assertion. “It makes it easier to convince adolescent girls to take up the habit, especially when it is propagated by the media, mostly soap operas that are very popular among them."
Studies, said Al-Mayouf, indicate that one session of shisha smoking lasts two to three hours, which is equivalent to the time taken to smoke about 25 cigarettes, and that one cigarette contains 4,000 toxic and 43 carcinogenic substances.
Al-Mayouf said shisha smoking is one contributor to lung, bladder and stomach cancer; it also contributes to lower newborn weight, to gum and throat diseases, and to the spread of tuberculosis — a highly contagious disease, when one shisha is used by several persons.
Many sites promote the electronic shisha, arguing that it helps gradually quit smoking, but this is a delusional solution and profitable propaganda spread by tobacco companies and the marketers of electronic cigarettes, against which the WHO has issued serious warnings.
Al-Mayouf stressed that e-cigarettes harm the smokers and those around them, the so-called passive smokers, as much as regular cigarettes, so there is great need to change the common perception among people that nicotine in electronic cigarettes is less concentrated.
Shisha causes 3 types of cancer among women
Shisha causes 3 types of cancer among women
Saudi Arabia’s KAUST named FIFA’s first research institute in MENA
- KAUST President Prof. Sir Edward Byrne said that the university’s selection as the fifth FIFA Research Institute in the world — and the first in the region — marks a significant achievement, reflecting Kingdom’s growing presence in international football
RIYADH: FIFA has designated the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology as its first research institute in the Middle East and Asia to support the development of innovative football research, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.
The recognition highlights KAUST’s commitment to integrating sports, academic research and industry through advanced, high-level initiatives grounded in rigorous scientific methodologies, contributing to the advancement of football studies.
KAUST President Prof. Sir Edward Byrne said that the university’s selection as the fifth FIFA Research Institute in the world — and the first in the region — marks a significant achievement, reflecting Saudi Arabia’s growing presence in international football.
The accreditation aligns with national efforts to invest in research and development and promote the knowledge economy, supporting Saudi Vision 2030’s goals of building an advanced sports system based on innovation and sustainability.
The collaboration’s first project focuses on developing advanced AI algorithms to analyze historical FIFA World Cup broadcast footage, transforming decades of match videos into structured, searchable data, according to the KAUST website.
This work opens new opportunities to apply state-of-the-art computer vision techniques and deepen understanding of how football has evolved over time.
The second project uses player and ball tracking data from the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar and the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 in Australia and New Zealand to compile comprehensive datasets capturing in-game dynamics.
These datasets provide deeper insights into human movement, playing techniques and performance dynamics through AI-driven analysis.
