We're 100 days away from the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. And tomorrow is the deadline for the BOCOG smiling children's faces photo submission, according to their website:

To offer opportunities for the general public to participate in the Opening and/or Closing Ceremonies ("Ceremonies") of the Games, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad ("BOCOG") is soliciting submissions from all countries and regions in the world of photographic images featuring smiling children's faces ("Photos") for possible use in the artistic performances of the Ceremonies.…

While BOCOG intends to maintain the integrity of the smiling faces, BOCOG will modify, alter or adjust the Photos, including, but not limited to, the background of the Photos, based on the creative requirements of the Ceremonies.

Here's something BOCOG can't Photoshop away - the deformity growing from the body of a child exposed to environmental toxins right in their own backyard.

There's no smile on the frightened face of 11-year-old Ren Xin, who in December 2007 had a third arm removed from her back. Birth defects in China are up 40% since 2001, and more and more babies born exhibit cleft lips and palates, and extra fingers and toes.

Only after the surgery was performed on Ren Xin did she have a reason to smile.

That's the face I'd most like to see featured by BOCOG during the ceremonies - the face of a little girl born in Shangxi, a coal-rich province with the highest birth defects in China - a child who endured a life-threatening deformity that no child should have to bear.

Then I'd like to see China take responsibility for what's going on, and stop the increasing rates of birth defects among its most precious resource - the children.

Photo of Ren Xin © China Photos/Getty Images