Tobacco-candy could be lethal for kids, find experts

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Georgia, U.S., established that tobacco-flavored products are becoming a main attraction and a major cause of poisonings among kids.

Lead researcher, Gregory N. Connolly, professor, Harvard School of Public Health said, “Nicotine is a highly addictive drug, and to make it look like a piece of candy is recklessly playing with the health of children.”

Details of the research
For the study, the researchers evaluated data from 61 poison control centers in the years 2006 and 2008.

The study results were based on marketing tests conducted for the dissolvable and smokeless tobacco products--Camel Orbs resembling breath mints; Camel Sticks, about the size of a toothpick and breath-freshening Camel Strips.

Tests were also conducted for small teabag-like pouches called snus, packed with tobacco to be placed between the upper lip and gum.

On evaluation, the researchers found that Orbs’ pellets were made of finely crushed tobacco with essence of mint or cinnamon and were filled with nicotine.

It was also found that tobacco-packed pouches were a latent hazard to health.

Researchers feared that these could entice children and adolescents into early use of tobacco and may cause poisonings.

The team also found these tobacco products to be the second-most common reasons of tobacco poisoning in children, after cigarettes.

Other findings
Study results revealed that there were 13,705 cases of tobacco intake during the study period and a greater number was of children less than age six.

Researchers found cigarettes or filter tips liable for about 10,600 poisonings and smokeless tobacco to be the main cause in 1,768 of all the cases.

“The candy form can only mean trouble, particularly for children and infants. And snus are attractive, flavorful, and easily ingested by an infant or child,” stated Connolly.

Connolly further added, “Ingestion of as little as 1 mg of nicotine by a small child can produce symptoms such as nausea and vomiting.”

However, Times quoted R.J. Reynolds, the maker of Camel Orbs as saying that it was unjust to denounce the products’ flavoring. “Virtually every household has products that could be hazardous to children, like cleaning supplies, medicines, health and beauty products, and you compare that to 20 to 25 percent of households that use tobacco products,” Reynolds said.

The study appears online in the journal Pediatrics.