I remember as a child, one of our favorite candies - not favorite as in the one that tasted the best, but "favorite" as in the one that was probably the most exciting to get - was the chewing gum that was made to look like cigarettes. The better ones had a nice powder on it and you could blow out the powder (probably powdered sugar) as if it was smoke.

INN is reporting that such candy and gum made to look like cigarettes are now banned from being sold in Israel. Even though there is nothing dangerous about them per se, they subconsciously encourage children to admire cigarettes and to consider them exciting and desirable. The goal for this change as part of the Restriction of Marketing of Tobacco products law is to prevent smoking and addiction among young people.

According to the article:

Individuals violating the law will be fined NIS 75,300 ($21,071), while corporations will be fined NIS 150,600 ($42,142).

We live in different times, but this is a good thing. There is no need to encourage kids to mimic smoking and train them to think it is fun and good to smoke.