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July 24, 2008

Letter: Fake cigarettes a poor product choice for ice-cream vendor

To the editor:

I am a Beverly student going into the 7th grade. One day this week, when I was at North Beverly Elementary School, an ice-cream truck stopped by. The kids, mostly 3rd through 6th-graders, bought various treats.

Some kids bought small cardboard boxes containing thin, white sticks of candy, much like cigarettes. These boxes had about the same dimensions and appearance as a typical cigarette box. The kids held these "candies" to their lips, imitating smoking.

This disturbs me because these candies are not only being sold to children at a school, but because they are indirectly encouraging kids to smoke. A lot of underage smoking starts by kids and teenagers modeling each other smoking. Here is a closely related situation: Kids buying candy, pretending to smoke on them, and then passing them around to other kids to do the same.

Although candy cigarettes may seem harmless, they can affect kids' attitude toward real cigarettes. I strongly suggest that kids, parents and sellers consider other candy choices.

DEVY INGLESON

Beverly

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