CIGARETTE candies must be removed from the market.

This is the appeal of two civil society groups, Action on Smoking and Health Philippines (ASH Philippines) and the EcoWaste Coalition as they denounced the sale of candy products mimicking the appearance of a cigarette stick as well as the names and packaging of cigarette brands.

The groups lamented that the sale of these products may result in young children becoming curious enough to try the real tobacco products. Down the line getting them hooked on a highly addictive product as they grow to adulthood.

“Candy cigarettes desensitize children to the dangers of smoking, falsely instilling in their impressionable minds that smoking is like any normal activity desired by adults, or worse, that it is not as harmful as what’s been depicted in graphic health warnings printed on the packs.

Such a subliminal promotion of tobacco use entices children to try smoking and must be stopped to save our children from cigarette addiction later in life,” said Dr. Maricar Limpin, Executive Director, ASH Philippines. Limpin, a pulmonologist, is also the President of the Philippine College of Physicians.

Meanwhile, Thony Dizon, EcoWaste Coalition chemical safety campaigner, said that packaging candies as a proxy to cigarettes is a cheap and irresponsible marketing gimmick that goes against the nation’s effort to curb tobacco addiction and create a tobacco-free generation

“Cigarette candies mask the stigma associated with acquiring diseases and deaths caused by tobacco use,” Dizon added.

Together, the groups pushed for speedy action to stop the misrepresentation of cigarettes as a “kid-friendly” food product.

Also known as “smoke candy,” or “candy cigarettes” are sold for P21 per package consisting of 24 small packs. Each pack contains a pair of white candy sticks with colored tips resembling a cigarette filter. The packs bear the names of 888, Camel, Hokt, Marlbovo and Pally, and another which goes by the name Marvelous is sold for P10 per pack.

The package provides no labeling information about the product manufacturer or distributor and they contain text in Chinese characters.

The groups further disclosed that the product is not registered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and being sold at Divisoria Mall, Mega Q Mart and from some sidewalk vendors.

In 2005, the Philippines ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a global treaty meant to curb the tobacco epidemic, and has since become part of our domestic law. Under Article 16, approaches to prevent youth access to tobacco include “prohibiting the manufacture and sale of sweets, snacks, toys or any other objects in the form of tobacco products which appeal to minors”.

The two groups called on the FDA and local government authorities to keep this in check and enforce available laws to counter the proliferation of these smoke candies or candy cigarettes.