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tricityherald.com / Opinions / Letters to the Editor

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Sunday, Mar. 23, 2008

Teen smoking harmful

I saw a very sad sight today: young teens huddled together laughing and smoking. They are unaware of the irreversible damage they are causing to themselves.

Infants are born with lungs that are not fully developed. Their lungs contain only one-sixth of the final number of alveoli that they will have as adults. Alveoli are the tiny air sacs of the lungs where oxygen enters the blood to nourish the body. As children grow into young adulthood the remaining alveoli develop. However, if children begin smoking in their early teens, their lungs never completely mature and the additional alveoli are lost forever.

It is sad to think that smoking to "fit in" will take from them something that can never be regained and will more than likely cost them their lives by slow suffocation. Please, show your children how much you love them and teach them not to smoke.

DENISE PITTS, Richland