
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 15, 1994                   TAG: 9404150098
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Short

`CANDY' SENDS 5 TEENS TO HOSPITAL

Five middle school students were treated at a hospital for burning mouths and tongues Wednesday after eating what they had been told was candy.

Police said a 13-year-old student gave the other teen-agers what they believe was sodium hydroxide, a caustic soda used in drain cleaners. No samples were left to test, said Lewis Thurston, a police spokesman.

The youth, 13, wasn't identified because he may face charges. Thurston said the student apparently gave the others the chemical as a joke.

Only one youth swallowed the chemical, Thurston said.

None of the injuries appeared to be serious.

- Associated Press

by CNB