I would just like to say that I’m very pleased with the editorial called “Improve tobacco regulations” in the Sept. 7 newspaper.

When I found the opinion page, the headline caught my eye. This article is about a bill that, if passed, could change the tobacco industry. I, for one, am all for the changes. If this bill had passed, it could have saved people’s lives.

I am 13 years old and it couldn’t be hard for a teenager to get cigarettes. I have many friends and a sister in high school. The people they hang out with don’t smoke, but some other teenagers do. One big question for me is, why are they smoking? That answer was in the editorial. It stated that if the bill was passed, “The FDA would also be able to limit the types of new products that can be introduced and prevent tobacco companies from developing and marketing cigarettes to appeal to kids.” From that one sentence, you can see why kids smoke. The tobacco industry makes it look cool.

The editorial also said that if the bill had passed, the tobacco companies would have to list all the ingredients in their product. I think that having the tobacco companies expose their secrets may change people’s minds about smoking. If you break down what’s in a cigarette, there is a lot of strange stuff in there.

Maybe people will see exactly why smoking is bad and try to prevent kids from even starting.

Sam Wark