Genetic link to smoking discovered

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:59:55 -0400

As if quitting smoking wasn't difficult enough, now comes word that there's a genetic link that makes people more likely to be hooked on tobacco. The AP reports that three separate teams of scientists, funded by governments in Europe and the United States, have made strong cases for this finding. According to the study, smokers that inherit the genetic variation from both parents have an 80 percent greater chance of eventually getting lung cancer than someone who smokes with neither parent carrying the gene.

"This is kind of a double-whammy gene," said Christopher Amos, a professor of epidemiology at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and author of one of the studies. "It also makes you more likely to be dependent on smoking and less likely to quit smoking."

For more information about the discovery:
- read the Associated Press article

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Genetic link to smoking discovered