The Antonine University is one of the five Lebanese universities that have signed, to this date, an official open letter supporting the restriction of shisha in public places.
Within the context of the end of the lockdown, the reopening of public places, and the resumption of shisha orders, the Antonine University has signed, under the initiative of Mrs. Rania Baroud, coordinator of the 174 campaign and Head of the Journalism and Communication Department at UA, an open letter addressed to the Lebanese ministries in question, which provides all the evidence confirming the need to ban shisha and smoking in public places.

This open letter also urges the application of Law 174, promulgated in 2011, both during the COVID-19 period and beyond. It includes independent, high-level studies that demonstrate that smoking, in all its forms, increases the risk of developing an emerging coronavirus, whether by repeated contact movements between the face and the hands, or by the shared use of the various parts of the shisha.

In addition to the health risk mentioned above, shisha causes a threat to immunity, an increased exposure to respiratory infections and the survival of living microorganisms, which could lead to the deterioration of human health and, in some cases, to death.

Statistically speaking: COVID-19 infections progress about twice as fast in smokers; the mortality rate for smokers with COVID-19 is 38.5% higher compared to non-smokers with COVID-19; revenues from the tourism and hotel sector increased by 3% during the full application of Law 174 between September and December 2012; and 83% of the tourists in Lebanon support the ban of smoking in public places.

That said, it is high time to make the public interest a top priority and to fight relentlessly for the implementation of tobacco control policies on the Lebanese territories.

Despite all the atrocities mentioned above, Lebanon remains ranked number 1 in the list of young smokers worldwide. The Antonine University, along with other Lebanese Institutions and Establishments who are fearful for the future of their people, voices a wake-up-call: "Say NO to lethal smoking. "
Open letter [ar]