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Smoking, is it all in the genes?
Saskia Sanderson
Abstract
Developments in human genetics research over the past
decade have led to an explosion of studies examining the
associations between genetics and human traits, such as
addiction and disease susceptibility. In the field of
smoking cessation, there has been particular interest
in trying to identify genes associated with nicotine addiction,
and with smoking-related diseases such as lung cancer
and heart disease. This has led to speculation that we
might, in the future, be able to identify individuals
who are particularly susceptible to the effects of nicotine,
or to the harmful constituents of tobacco smoke, and develop
targeted interventions to reduce risk amongst those people
identified as high risk. In fact, some companies are already
marketing these kinds of products direct to the public,
despite reservations in the scientific community about
the appropriateness of these products at the present time.
In this paper, I shall give a brief introduction to genetics
and provide an overview of what is currently known about
genetics and addiction, and genetics and smoking-related
disease susceptibility. I shall then discuss the potential
uses of this information, examine some of the companies
that are already marketing smoking-related genetic tests
on the internet, and conclude with a discussion of some
of the ethical and social issues that these developments
raise for smoking cessation researchers and practitioners.
Saskia Sanderson
Cardiovascular Genetics,
British Heart Foundation Laboratories,
Royal Free and University College Medical School
s.sanderson@ucl.ac.uk
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