Study Links Candy Cigarettes to Smoking

Candy cigarettes predispose children who play with them to smoke the real things later, new research concludes.

The look-alikes made of candy or gum are marketing and advertising tools that desensitize kids and open them moreso to the idea of smoking later on, says study leader Jonathan Klein of the University of Rochester. Candy cigarettes cannot be considered simply as candy, Klein said.

The findings, from a nationally representative sample of 25,887 U.S. adults who were surveyed online via a Harris Poll, are detailed in the July issue of the journal Preventive Medicine.

The study is the first to show a statistical link between a history with fake cigarettes and adult experiences with real smokes —22 percent of current or former smokers had also regularly consumed candy cigarettes, while only 14 percent of those who have never smoked had eaten or played with candy cigarettes often or very often.

"The continued existence of these products helps promote smoking as a culturally or socially acceptable activity," Klein said, in a prepared statement.

Philip Morris USA had no comment specifically on the study, said spokesman Bill Phelps, but he noted that the company has a youth smoking prevention program that features brochures and materials on the company's Web site to help parents talk to their kids about not smoking.

"We don't want kids to smoke," he said, "and we do not use fruit- or candy-flavor labels to market any of our tobacco products."

World Candies, a leading maker of candy cigarettes, was contacted for comment, but did not provide any before this story was published.

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The majority of smokers start before age 18, according to the Department of Health and Human Services and other sources. The survey by Klein and colleagues showed that candy cigarette use is more common among females.

Candy cigarettes reportedly have been restricted or banned in Canada, the United Kingdom, Finland, Norway, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, among other countries. Legislative bans also have been proposed in several U.S. states and in New York City over the years, but all these failed except in North Dakota where a ban stood from 1953 until it was repealed in 1967.

In the United States, candy cigarettes are typically sold next to bubble gum and trading cards, but some retailers refuse to sell them. For instance, Wal-Mart bans the sale of tobacco and tobacco look-alike products to minors in its stores nationwide.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/l...stosmoking

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Intriguing.

Smokers -- did you play with candy cigarettes as a child, and did those candy cigarettes in any way have an influence on your later choice to smoke the real thing?

Parents - are you bothered by the concept of candy cigarettes? Would you allow your child to have them?

I played with them.. but I will never smoke as an adult.

Ive only seen Candy Cigarettes at the really big candy stores.

I was scared of them when I was little. WHY?

SaraWright10 said:

Excellent.

I'm a lifelong non-smoker, but often had candy cigarettes as a child - and have fond memories of them.

i played with them occasionally as a kid, but i doubt they influenced my smoking phase at all.

Are these the gum Candy Cigarettes?

INSATIABLE said:

How did you feel about wax lips?

CRAP! Smoked candy cigarettes like a fiend... never got off on the real think except on rare occasion

WillyWonka said:

Ok now that right there might be a case of life imitating art ..

I used to love these, but I'm surprised that my parents bought them for us because they are very anti-smoking. I have never smoked a cigarette as an adult and I never will.

I can see it.

I like hookers.

When I was a kid,
I ate Ho-Ho's.

It all makes sense.

Illustrator said:

Illustrator said:

lmfao!

didn't they ban those?

I don't think I ever tried candy cigarettes. But Willy, you are a big fan of liquor! You mentioned it in your film! And in the company of children, no less!

SaraWright10 said:

Same.

JasmineFire said:

I believe so. I haven't seen them anywhere for years.

Illustrator said:

The derelict older kids in the nabe influenced me more than candy smokes, but the candy probably didn't help.

Muse2NOPharaoh said:

Had I been around you back then I would have offered to light your candy cigarette for you with my pretend matches.

WillyWonka said:

We need the pretend matches for the real cigs.

live4lust said:

Yes - and the company of certain children makes me an even bigger fan of liquor.

Illustrator said:

JustErin said:

Canada has legally banned candy cigarettes, but they are still legal to sell in the US although many retailers choose not to sell them.

They banned these in Canada? Man, these candy sticks rock! I get them because Tom and Jerry are on them.

I played with them back in the late 60s-early 70s. Never smoked the real thing and never will. It's a filthy, disgusting habit. I don't know how men can kiss women who smoke(and vice versa).

oh no! I ate a whole CARTON of Big Boss candy cigars, is that bad?

Not true for me.