ONE LAST PUFF

Gatrad, Rashid consultant paediatrician
Gatrad, Adam gap year student
Sheikh, Aziz professor

Manor Hospital, Walsall
University of Central England
Primary care research and development, Allergy and Respiratory Research Group, Division of Community Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh

We thank Yasser Shehata for helpful discussions regarding the role of hookahs in Arab society and also Irshad Ibrahim for informing us of his observations of children in hookah parlours.

Correspondence to:[email protected]

Competing interests: AS chairs the National Clinical Assessment Service’s Equality and Diversity Forum and is co-chair of the Science and Research Committee of the British Thoracic Society.

References are in the full version on bmj.com

BMJ 335(7609):p 20, July 7, 2007.

Campaigners are trying to get hookah smoking exempted from England’s smoking ban for cultural reasons. Despite there being little research into the health effects, Rashid Gatrad and colleagues say the ban should stay in place