The Action on Smoking and Health Philippines (ASH Philippines) and the EcoWaste Coalition are deploring the sale of cheap cigarette-looking candies that may result in young children becoming curious enough to try real tobacco products.

“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,” stated Dr. Maricar Limpin, Executive Director, ASH Philippines, and president of the Philippine College of Physicians.

“Packaging candies as 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,” said Thony Dizon, Chemical Safety Campaigner, EcoWaste Coalition. “Cigarette candies mask the stigma associated with acquiring diseases and deaths caused by tobacco use.”

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 that goes by the name Marvelous sold for P10 per pack.

The package provides no labeling information about the product manufacturer or distributor. Interestingly, the cigarette packs contain text in Chinese characters. The product is not registered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and was found being sold at Divisoria Mall, Mega Q Mart, and from some sidewalk vendors, according to the groups.

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.”