Editor’s note: Today’s letters to the editor are from Southwest Junior High students learning about persuasive writing.

To the editor:

Too many children must experience their favorite foods accompanied with cigarette smoke. Those children, having not ever smoked a cigarette, will one day become addicted to nicotine without ever knowing it. Studies have shown that people who have never smoked a cigarette will be vulnerable to its smoke and may even receive lung cancer when exposed to this deadly toxin. Even if there are non-smoking areas in restaurants the smoke may reach the area where your children are eating.

For many people, having the smell of cigarette smoke in the air is a constant annoyance, but for the actual smoker there is no problem at all, they can enjoy their night.

There is a chemical in a cigarette called Benzene that is also used to make rubber, dyes, detergents and pesticides. Benzene can also cause leukemia and skin cancer. Studies also show that four out of five people who smoke die of lung cancer and other deadly diseases.

I believe that smoking should not be allowed in public and there should be a law in Kansas that prohibits smoking in public places.

Veronica Heredia,

Southwest Junior High