"Some smokers can blame their genes"

Recently, a new study has been done to determine whether nicotine addiction may be a genetic trait. Researchers at the University of Colorado experimented on adult twins, both identical and fraternal, to figure out whether there is a genetic influence in nicotine addiction. Using 569 pairs of twins, they found that 65% of identical twins quit smoking within a two year period while 55% of fraternal twins were able to quit during the same amount of time. Since identical twins genes are more similar to each other than fraternal twins genes, researchers were able to to link genetics to cigarette addiction. This article was written by Shari Roan in the Los Angeles Times news paper. Reading this article has caused me to question whether nicotine addiction runs in my genes, since my parents, grandparents, and their grandparents come from a long line of smokers. I have discovered it is not just something to do socially on your leisure time, it can be a genetic trait.