IHAVE noticed the general trend for teenage girls to smoke nowadays. In my young days, it was the lads who did what was considered the masculine thing to do -- smoke cigarettes.

Well, listening to some of them coughing their guts up and calling it enjoyment makes one wonder at their sanity.

Juvenile smoking should only be allowed on a doctor's prescription and at the first sign of a cough the prescription should be taken back and only returned after a vigorous fitness regime to give the lungs a chance to repair.

In an ideal world, smoking tobacco would be a thing of the past because what is paid in tax on cigarettes is more than balanced by the health cost to the country.

FRANCIS CROSS, Royds Street, Accrington.