people who had this “smoking” gene were much less likely to give up smoking

According to scientists a genetic link has been uncovered that shows that some people have a tendency to be more likely to become addicted to cigarettes than other people.  These people are likely to find it much more difficult to quit the habit and therefore more likely to end up suffering from smoking related diseases such as lung cancer.

Three separate studies were done by different scientists in Europe and America which all confirmed the hypothesis about different people having different levels of genetic susceptibility to cigarette addiction. Overall over 35,000 people in America, Canada and in Europe had their genes examined to identify genetic differences in heavily addicted smokers and those who were not so addicted.

One of the scientists, Professor Christopher Amos from the Anderson Cancer Centre based in Houston said that those people who had this “smoking” gene were much less likely to give up smoking if they started and were much more likely to be heavily addicted to the habit.

The scientists showed that someone who smoked and who had this gene from both his parents had an 80 percent higher risk of getting lung cancer when compared to a smoker who did not have these genetic variants. They also reported that smokers with these genes lit up on average an extra two cigarettes everyday when compared to those who did not possess the gene.

You only need to look around you to see that some people can smoke when they feel like and give up very easily whereas others struggle for years and years to quit, often unsuccessfully. This research shows that it is important that people do not start smoking at all because they may have these addictive genes which will make it virtually impossible for them to stop and greatly increase the chances of them getting lung cancer.