Having seen friends and relatives die from lung cancer after a lifetime of smoking, it doesn’t require a Ph.D. in rocket science to figure out this is a dangerous addiction. Still, youngsters can’t seem to wait to get old enough to smoke. In fact, some don’t wait. I remember smoking a puff in the boys room in school trying to be cool.Well, the manufacturers of what my parents referred to as “Cancer Sticks” are trying to get them in even younger. This trend involves the marketing of flavored cigarettes such as “Twista Lime” and “Mocha Taboo” with candy, fruit and alcohol flavors. Many pudits are convinced that these brands are marketed to underaged smokers.
The R.J. Reynolds company has agreed to stop selling these products domestically. Unfortunately, you kids overseas are... in the colloquial vernacular... S.O.L.
Donald Distasio of the American Cancer Society of New York and New Jersey said, “Candy-flavored cigarettes can now join Joe Camel on the ash heap of defunct tobacco marketing schemes.”
