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By Mariel S. Clark
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — A lawmaker wants to outlaw new hookah bars by extending the city's ban on indoor smoking, according to news reports.
Brooklyn City Councilman Vincent Gentile will introduce legislation to add all new non-tobacco smoking establishments — like hookah lounges and their now-legal herbal water pipes — to the ban, the Daily News reported.
Gentile says the hookah smoke is as dangerous as cigarette smoke because it still contains carbon monoxide and tar, according to the paper.
If Gentile gets his way, existing hookah bars would be exempt but would have to register with the Health Department, and starting in 2012, no new bars could open, the News reported.