Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have stated that children can suffer from serious harm from smokeless flavored tobacco products that have taken all shapes and sizes now as kids can mistake them for candy.

Greg N. Connolly, D. M. D., the director of the Tobacco Control Research Group at the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston, Massachusetts, said, "Nicotine is a poison, and now we're seeing smokeless tobacco products that look like Tic Tacs or M&M's, which parents can leave on the counter and children can be attracted to."

According to Connolly's research team, the second most common cause of nicotine poisoning in kids are smokeless tobacco products. Data from 61 poison control centers was reviewed by researchers and about 13,705 cases of tobacco ingestion were identified between 2006 and 2008. Among these cases, smokeless tobacco was involved in 1,768 of the cases and most were in infants.

Experts say that these products are marketed for places where smoking is banned as nicotine alternative and are not smoking cessation aids.

Camel Orbs was found to be of major concern as children in the study as Orbs were available in mint and cinnamon flavors and could easily be mistaken for candy by kids.

Conolly added, "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."