Cigarette-shaped chocolates became the latest sweets to find themselves at the centre of a health warning in Germany Tuesday after cancer experts said they could encourage youngsters to smoke.

Three months after Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs came under attack over fears children might choke on the plastic toys inside, the German cancer research centre said cigarette-shaped chocolates and similarly shaped chewing gum products should be banned.

`Children learn by consuming and playing with candy cigarettes to see smoking as normal behaviour and as a harmless pleasure,` said a joint statement by the cancer reaserch centre and national consumer protection association, calling them a `danger for the younger generation.`

It cited a US study that found that candy cigarettes made a person twice as likely to become a smoker, and said that bans were already in place in other European countries including Britain, Ireland and Finland.