Dear Sir,

A s an NGO employee engaged in the training of Cambodian Prosthetists (artificial limb fitters) I have become more and more alarmed by the immigration regulations. They don't go far enough. They should be extended to include one particular group of undesirables, cigarette companies.

I am appalled at the way these people enslave and entrap the young of Cambodia. What are we storing up for the future? Here are all the boring statistics.

1. Half of all smokers will die of smoking related illness. Therefore if two million Cambodians smoke, we are facing another slaughter. This time the killers are not in military uniform but in the red and white of Brother Marlboro. The only difference is that the victims will suffer longer before the relief of death.

2. In the developed world 90 percent of amputees are smokers. The smoking damages the circulation and the victim literally dies by the centimeter. First it is a toe or two then a foot then a leg and eventually a stoke or heart attack. At least a land mine is quick.

3. The cost of cigarettes is pitifully low but so are Cambodian wages. The smokers of the family are literally taking food from their children. This is not a Cambodian problem alone but one seen throughout the world.

I know my solution of deporting and banning cigarette companies is a little tongue in cheek. But please Royal Government do something. I came here to train Cambodians to help each other, not to prepare them to deal with the damage of the cigarette companies.

The land mines planted in the country are bad enough without allowing people to plant them in your chests.

- Carson Harte, principal National School of Prosthetics and Orthotics.