Building materials, paints, pesticides and paper are also on the way.

Independent testing and approval for sale are still pending, but the Philippines is hoping the alternative products will supplement a farming sector set to suffer as evidence mounts about the harmful effects of smoking.

"The phase-out (of tobacco) may be implemented slowly, but it will still have an effect" on farmers, said Carlitos Encarnacion, head of the government's National Tobacco Administration.

The country's 62,000 tobacco farmers are better off than those farming other crops because demand is up - smoking in the Philippines is still increasing by two percent a year, Encarnacion said.

But fears that an international anti-smoking campaign would drive the crop toward obsolescence prompted the government to re-think its tobacco research in the mid-1990s.

Government testing soon found the plant's seeds, stalks and roots - not just the leaves people smoke - could be used for a wide variety of uses.

INSPIRED BY FOLK REMEDIES

"If you know the crop, it's easy to think of alternative uses," said Dr. Reynaldo Castro, an agricultural researcher who pioneered the project in 1995.

"For example, the stems are woody so we thought they'd be good for particle board and dissolving pulps...Tobacco was used as a medicine before it was used for smoking, so we thought there must be alternative uses that are helpful to people and not harmful."

The United States, India, Britain and other countries have been experimenting for years with proteins from tobacco leaves, but the Philippines was the first country in the world to research all parts of the plant.

"We believe we were pioneers in the area," said Castro.

Folk remedies formed the basis for medicinal applications, researchers said.

Antibacterial, antifungal creams and topical analgesics were inspired by traditional poultices used to cover open wounds and insect bites.

The leaves - which are cured to make cigars and cigarettes - are also rich in a protein that holds promise as a nutritional supplement.

A pungent, minty-smelling oil pressed from seeds can be turned into soap and paint, while whole seeds, which are free of nicotine and high in protein, have potential as animal feed.

POTENTIAL FOR COST SAVINGS

"We will still have to look into the commercial feasibility of these things," said Dr. Perlita Baula, the project's current research head. "The uses of tobacco have been known for a long time, but the practical side of things isn't yet known."

She said however there was potential for cost savings.

High-grade Virginia tobacco used for cigars and cigarettes has to be grown in widely spaced rows to allow leaves to reach regulation size.

But if the plants are put to alternative use, they can be grown closer together, yielding a high quantity for the amount of land used.

The tobacco administration's Encarnacion said he hopes many of the products will be on supermarket shelves within two years.

Some of them - especially particle board, which has already passed building standards in Japan and the Philippines - need private-sector funds to get off the ground, he said.

Paper made from tobacco stalks that normally rot in the fields after harvest is the only non-nicotine product from the plant now available on the market.

And no, you can't smoke it, Encarnacion said.