DR. WALLACE: I'm a single mother who needs your assistance. I have a 16-year-old daughter and lately she smells like smoke, including her breath. She says she's not experimenting with cigarettes, but I know she is.

Please print the dangers of using tobacco. She reads your column and once in a while agrees with you, but she does read it every day. - Mom, Rock Island, Ill.

MOM'S DAUGHTER: It appears that you are starting to use tobacco products or are hanging around with teens who are. I'm printing some info on the dangers of smoking, courtesy of the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association, just for you:

Smokers die younger than nonsmokers do. Smokers who smoke less than 10 cigarettes a day have a death rate 30 percent higher than that of nonsmokers; and the rate is 100 percent higher for pack-a-day smokers. Smoking causes 390,000 needless deaths per year in the United States due to cancer, heart disease and strokes.

Pregnant women who smoke have more premature births and low-weight babies than nonsmokers do. This is because women who smoke absorb gases, including carbon monoxide, into their bloodstream, cutting off the baby's oxygen supply.

Secondhand smoke (inhaling someone else's cigarette smoke) affects the nonsmoker in much the same way as the smoker. Smoke drifting off the end of a cigarette contains even more tar and nicotine than the smoke inhaled by the smoker.

Be wise — DON'T SMOKE! Your body will thank you!

ATTEND CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

DR. WALLACE: My boyfriend is attending the University of Hawaii on a football scholarship. I will be graduating from high school and have been accepted at the U of H and would really like to go there. However, my parents refuse to let me go there because they worry about my being so far away from home.

I don't think they understand that I'm an independent young woman who is quite capable of taking care of herself. They want me to attend Chapman University in nearby Orange, California (Ugh). Don't you agree that I should be given the freedom to select the school of my choice? After all, it's my future and my life we are talking about. — Lynn, Newport Beach, Calif.

LYNN: Chapman University is an excellent school and will provide you with a wonderful education. There are worse fates.

Don't forget that simply attending college at all is a great privilege. Many teens who could qualify won't be going to college for a number of reasons, mainly a lack of funds.

Consider yourself fortunate that your parents can afford your formal education. I agree with your parents. If our daughter were in a similar situation, she would be attending Chapman University.

I WANT TO SHAVE MY LEGS

DR. WALLACE: I'm 14 and have a lot of hair growing on my legs. I want to shave my legs, but my mother thinks that hair will only grow back thicker. Is that true? — Tina, Boise, Idaho.

TINA: Shaving your legs will not increase the thickness of hair. But before you start shaving your legs regularly, have your family doctor recommend methods that are more effective and less time consuming.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.