A study published today in the New York Times suggests there's a genetic link that makes people more likely than others to become addicted to nicotine. The findings were solidified by three separate teams of scientists, making fairly a strong case for this biological link between smokers.
The scientists surveyed genetic markers in more than 35,000 people in Europe, Canada and the United States, focusing on the same set of genetic differences. They found that a "smoker who inherits this genetic variation from both parents has an 80 percent greater chance of lung cancer than a smoker without the variants, the researchers reported. And that same smoker on average lights up two extra cigarettes a day and has a much harder time quitting."
This discovery will surely have a huge impact on developing future stop smoking programs while explaining all those questions we have about why smokers smoke despite knowing its fatal consequences.
