Many people have turned to hookah as a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes as the health effects were thought to be less harmful.

However, a new study has reportedly found that hookah might contain dangerous toxic carcinogen while researchers who studied the health effects of hookah found it contains benzene, which is linked to the causes of leukemia, according to the publication Voice Chronicle.

Nada Kassem, associate director of the Center for Behavioral Epidemiology and Community Health at San Diego State University and her team reportedly analyzed levels of S-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA) , which is a metabolite (byproduct) of benzene, in the urine of 105 hookah smokers and 103 nonsmokers exposed to smoke from the water pipes in a smoking event. They reportedly found that SPMA levels were 4 times higher than normal in hookah smokers and 2.6 times higher than normal among non-smokers who attended the event.

"Hookah smoking involves the use of burning charcoal that is needed to heat the hookah tobacco to generate the smoke that the smoker inhales," said Kassem.

The director added, "In addition to inhaling toxicants and carcinogens found in the hookah tobacco smoke, hookah smokers and nonsmokers who socialize with hookah smokers also inhale large quantities of charcoal combustion-generated toxic and carcinogenic emissions."

Although hookah had been the go-to choice for those thinking about the health effects of smoking cigarettes, it may no longer be anymore.

"In contrast to what is believed, hookah tobacco smoking is not a safe alternative to smoking other forms of tobacco," stated Kassem, according to the Oregon Live.