Science and Health Channel Theme Day: Quit Smoking

Today, the b5media Science and Health Channel is holding a theme day about smoking. Take a look at my right sidebar and click on the other science and health blogs for some very thought provoking posts on smoking. I’ll do a round-up tomorrow too so you can see all that the Science and Health Channel has to offer on the subject.

Over the past year, I’ve posted many times about the harmful effects of smoking on DNA. But molecular DNA damage is pretty far removed from the tangible existence of everday life. Talking about carcinogenic molecules isn’t all that convincing.

Why do some people start up and others (like me) never even tried one cigarette? Does it lie in our genes? Are some of us more genetically susceptible to nicotine addiction? What would get people to quit?

It’s a complex combination of opportunity, situation, psychological factors, and genetics. Certainly, if cigarettes didn’t exist, nobody would be smoking. We might be toking on other kinds of drugs, but not cigarettes. In fact, maybe the drug of choice would be fatty food or alcohol.

Love the smoker, hate the smoking. I have friends who are trying to quit right this minute and friends who are lighting up right this minute (thankfully not next to me). Friends who should have known better to begin with. When it comes to healthy behavior, don’t we all know better?

Most likely, there’s an overlap of genes that underly addictive behavior. When those are found, we’ll be able to develop gene-targeted drug therapy. But unless we’re all willing to tame our addictive tendencies in whatever way we can, we shouldn’t be pointing fingers at one group or another.

We should be helping each other live healthier lives. That’s what Genetics and Health is all about.

What have you done today to help someone live a healthier life?

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