Candy-flavored cigarettes get banned for kids, but what about cigarillos?

Updated

Candy-flavored cigarettes have long been the bane of parents and antismoking advocates. Their allure to youths was obvious -- they had the tang of tobacco behind such flavorings as chocolate, vanilla, and lime. This week, the Food and Drug Administration's ban on such tobacco products takes effect -- but will it keep children safe from the marketing pull of cigarettes that taste like treats?

Some tobacco companies may be trying to circumvent the ban, says the antitobacco group Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. How can they do that? By marketing flavored cigarillos and other products that aren't strictly classified as cigarettes. "Some of them look just like cigarettes and are marketed and packaged like cigarettes," says CTFK spokesman Joel Spivak. Yet they're not cigarettes, he says, because "they're wrapped in tobacco, not in cigarette paper."

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