CANDY CIGS ; Sweets Binned Because They Lead Kids to Smoke for Real

By LARISSA NOLAN

SWEET cigarettes have been banned by the Office of Tobacco Control as an anti-smoking measure.

The novelty confectionery, rebranded as candy sticks in recent years, has been banned by the Government’s OTC which warned they encourage children to take up smoking as adults.

OTC’s director of communications Kathleen Quinlan: “They look exactly like real cigarettes and are even boxed up like them.

“Children are attracted by them and some regard them as illicit and mature playthings. So you would often see kids playing with them and pretending to smoke them like real cigarettes.”

She said the ban was not an overly politically correct move and explained: “International studies show that children who play with these ‘sweet cigarettes’ are far more likely to take up the habit later in life, than those who don’t. They had to go.

“So we decided to ban them along with banning 10-packs of cigarettes, which were the most popular choice with teenagers.

“As a measure to prevent children from taking up smoking, we banned the two on May 31.”

Far from being a benign parody of smoking, experts claimed make- believe cigarettes set youngsters’ minds towards becoming future puffers.

Past research shows they desensitise children to the harm of real smoking, allow them to respond to cigarette marketing long before they are old enough to smoke and they help promote smoking as being culturally and socially acceptable.

Ireland is leading the charge by banning the sale of sweet cigarettes – they are still available in the UK, the US and Australia, where sale is limited, but not forbidden.

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