IOWA CITY ?" Iowa legislators are considering restricting the availability of dissolvable tobacco products that look and taste like candy, The Daily Iowan reports.

Addressing the concern that the products target minors, the proposal seeks to allow only businesses with 90 percent of gross sales coming from tobacco products and that allow customers 18 and older to enter the store to sell the products.

The Iowa Senate could vote on the bill as early as next week. State Sen. Rob Hogg said the increased presence of the products influenced the Senate??s Human Resource Committee to approve a bill February 22 limiting locations of sale.

"They??re highly addictive products and have a lot of nicotine in them, and they??re being sold as something they really aren??t," he said.

R.J. Reynolds addressed the issue last June in a press release, emphasizing the distinction between its tobacco products and mints or candy, saying the dissolvable products are produced for and marketed to adults.

State Sen. Robert Bacon voted against the bill, which he characterized as unnecessary, saying that the product??s packaging is distinct from candy and mints.

"It looks like a Tic-Tac, but it isn??t packaged like a Tic-Tac," he said. "It has warnings on it, and it??ll be behind the counter."