How Many More Lives?!

Last Wednesday afternoon, five-year-old Jocelys Santiago of the Bronx died after the peppermint ball she was sucking on became lodged in her throat as she ran up a flight of stairs.

Then the following day, four-year-old Ashely Morrison choked to death on a similar peppermint ball in Queens.

Two days. Two little girls. Two peppermint balls. Two deaths. When will the madness end?

Young Jocelyn's family is already planning to file suit against the candy company, but is that enough? When will lawmakers finally do something to remove this peppermint menace from the shelves of drug stores and corner candy shops throughout the city-or at least put them behind the counter and require proof of age before you can buy them? As things stand, any child of any age can walk into a store with a nickel and walk out a few minutes later with a peppermint ball that may well prove lethal. How many more children need to die before people start waking up to the awful truth-that peppermints kill?