Score 1 for Elders, 0 for Joe Camel

Regarding the editorial ``Blow Away the Smoke,'' March 2: Although I do not usually agree with the government interfering with the capitalist system, I do feel that Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders acted in the best interest of the American public when she took a stand against tobacco advertising.

It is important to keep the tobacco industry from ``reeling in'' teens and younger children, who are more easily swayed by clever advertising. Teens feel a lot of pressure to fit in, and tobacco advertising depicts smoking as ``cool.'' It is wrong to coax people (especially young people) into using something we all know to be harmful. I commend Dr. Elders because I was once a young person who was very much influenced by such advertising tactics as ``Joe Camel.'' Larry Mitchell, Russellville, Ala.

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