Fury over chocolate flavoured cigarettes

Britain's largest tobacco company is looking to introduce chocolate and alcohol flavoured cigarettes in a move condemned by campaigners as the smoking equivalent of alcopops.

British American Tobacco, whose brands include Rothmans, said they had carried out scientific experiments on animals in Canada to assess the health implications of cigarettes with added ingredients.

But campaigners fear the move - which could see cocoa, corn syrup, cherry juice, maple syrup and vanilla added to cigarettes - will entice children to smoke.

Deborah Arnott, director of antismoking-group Ash, said: "Adding sweets to tobacco is appalling. It shows we need more regulation to prevent anything that could make tobacco more attractive, or smoother, or easier to use."

Former Health Secretary Frank Dobson said the trials were a cynical ploy to tempt children. " Nothing is beyond the devious wit of the tobacco industry," he said.

"We all know that hardly anyone takes up smoking when they are grown up. That is why the industry wants to target children. In this country, they kill 120,000 of their customers a year and have to recruit 120,000 more." A recent poll suggested 25 per cent of secondary school children smoke compared with 21 per cent two years ago.

A BAT spokesman said 482 ingredients, such as chocolate and tea, had been tested and revealed that cocoa butter and liquorice were already used in some brands.

"Anybody who might claim they are added to appeal to youth are barking mad because cigarettes taste like cigarettes," he said.

The Department of Health said some additives, including vanilla and cocoa, were permissible in the UK, but not chocolate.