Lawmakers target water pipe smoking Bills propose warnings be posted in businesses of hookah tobacco use, a trend with students.s March 10, 2008 State leaders are considering legislation that would require businesses to post warnings on the dangers of smoking hookah tobacco and to clean pipes after each use, citing the growing popularity of the water pipe among teens and college students in Michigan. While the legislation is welcomed by some in the Arab-American community, some businesses say they already take proper precautions for their discerning customers. "We have to protect our young," said Fouad Ashkar, vice chair of the board for the American Arab Chamber of Commerce. "At the same time, we don´t want to put rules and regulations on our members." A hookah is an ornate water pipe popular in the Middle East that´s used to smoke fruit-flavored tobacco. In recent years, its use has become a trend in major cities and college towns across the United States. According to medical experts, hookah users often mistakenly think the pipe is safer than cigarettes when in fact it can deliver 36 times the cancer-causing tar of a cigarette as well as addictive amounts of nicotine and heavy metals. "It´s a fad right now and all we want you to be aware of is it could hurt you," said state Rep. Gino Polidori, D-Dearborn, who along with state Sens. Irma Clark-Coleman, D-Detroit, and Buzz Thomas, D-Detroit, sponsored three bills on hookah businesses introduced in Lansing on Friday. He said the bills were designed to educate the public with as little imposition on businesses as possible. "The only inconvenience is if you have to take it and run it through the dishwasher," he said Sunday. In addition to the requirements on businesses, one bill would require the Michigan Department of Public Health to launch a public awareness campaign and provide businesses multilingual brochures on the dangers of hookah tobacco, the importance of sanitizing pipes and the legal age requirement to buy hookah tobacco: 18. Businesses like Beirut Palace in Royal Oak say they already take extra measures to ensure the pipes are clean. The Lebanese restaurant, which draws customers in the summer to smoke colorful hookahs on its patio, gives customers disposable plastic mouthpieces and sanitized metal tips, said Joe Hamad, assistant manager. That´s in addition to thoroughly cleaning the jars with a brush after each use, he said. "Really it´s got to be done anyway because if you don't do it, people will notice," he said. He said he wasn´t worried the posted warnings would hurt business since tobacco sale is only a small part of the restaurant´s revenue. "We´re not forcing anyone to buy it," he said. According to the bills, businesses would be required to post the warnings in English, Arabic and Spanish. If the law passes, they will be able to download them for free on the public health department's Web site.