Some reports on the Ajax mine forum last Sunday at TRU suggest the health and environmental impacts of the proposed mine would affect only Aberdeen, Sahali, and Knutsford.

Actually the prevailing southwest winds would carry dust and finely ground heavy metals from the mine throughout the city. Compounding the problem is the fact that our city is subject to temperature inversions. They trap the air near the surface, where we and our children breathe it.

Pediatricians say children are especially vulnerable to breathable dust. Children are also particularly susceptible to heavy metal disorders, as are pregnant women. Arsenic is associated with birth defects, cancer, and nerve damage. Cadmium promotes lung cancer and liver damage. Lead slows children's intellectual development, and interferes with memory and concentration.

Children's bodies grow and develop until their late teens or early twenties. That's the age of many TRU students. It's also the age of many athletes who train and compete in the Tournament Capital.

Young people's rapid metabolic rate during growth means they take up and utilize toxic substances more readily than adults do. So toxic substances harm them more than they do adults, though they aren't terrific for adults either.

ELMA SCHEMENAUER

Kamloops