Genes affect smoking behavior, lung cancer risk

More genetic quackery.

Addicted to smoking and unable to quit? Your genes may be partly to blame, according to a trio of studies published Sunday in Nature Genetics that link several gene variants to a range of smoking habits, as well as increased risk for lung cancer.

Collectively, the researchers on the studies analyzed the DNA profiles of more than 140,000 people -- smokers and nonsmokers. They also studied whether genetic variants affect whether people start smoking, how much they smoke and whether they are able to quit.

In one study, researchers found that a single-letter change in the DNA code of chromosome 11 was strongly associated with taking up smoking and another on chromosome 9 was associated with quitting smoking. (Humans have 23 pair of chromosomes).

"This lends support to the idea that smoking is not just a question of will power alone, but that genetics plays a role in how much a person smokes and their ability to quit smoking," Dr. Helena Furberg from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who was involved in the research, noted in an email to Reuters Health.

Just like pedophilia which is apparently also "hardwired" into the brain.

And fear of snakes.

So the next time someone rapes a kid, better hope the offender is not a smoker aware of this research or you can expect the "genetically hardwired" defense.