London, June 4: Tobacco companies were accused yesterday of adding food flavours to cigarettes to encourage children to start smoking.

British American Tobacco said the flavourings were added to reduce the harshness of tobacco but denied they were a way of persuading children to smoke. A list of tobacco additives including food flavours, such as chocolate, sherry, cherry and vanilla, were referred to in a recent research article on the effects they had on the chemistry of smoke in an experiment with rats.

A BAT spokesperson said food flavours had been in cigarettes for many years. Spokesperson Ann Tradigo said: “Ingredients are added but only in very, very minuscule quantities. They are added so the harshness of tobacco is taken away, but you can’t taste anything in the cigarettes.”

Amanda Sandford, research manager for Ash (Action on Smoking and Health) said: “They are losing a huge number of customers and the only way to restore customers is to make sure more children smoke. Making cigarettes less harsh will make them more palatable to children.”