Smoking...could It Be Hereditary?

Hereditary genetic factors seem to be catching much of the blame for more and more health issues that a person is dealing with and now smoking is being added to the list of genetic factors. Researchers already know that most people that have a addictive personality do have a tendency to use and often abuse alcohol, drugs and tobacco products because of these genetic predispositions; but is this really the case?

Most people would agree that a person's behavior is linked to what they were exposed to as a child in their formative years and this is becoming hard to disprove because as it turns out most people cannot remember in detail these formative years, making it harder to pinpoint if the behavior is learned by being exposed to such behaviors, or that the cause can be traced to a family genetic predisposition link and the behavior is manifesting itself through DNA codes in the genes.

Unfortunately this type of issue goes way back and it is the nature vs. nurture argument that so many different professionals want to have. Unfortunately and ultimately there is no nature without nurture because if you don't put a human being in a climate that is influenced by others then they will never thrive or develop in a way that will allow you to study their behaviors.

Many people believe that much of our behavior is inborn or natural, and while this is true somewhat, examples of children raised in a closet or destructive environment show very negative characteristics very early and it really doesn't matter what is in the genetic pool and their behavior is negatively affected. Just how much negative behavior is the result of genetic influence or a environmental influence continues to fuel the debate among professionals because both do have a bearing on how complete a human being will function as.

So far experts have concluded that while the predisposition for addictive behaviors is existent in many people this in no way determines which drugs or other chemicals they put in their body. To date no one has been able to prove that heredity is a determinant for cigarette smoking but perhaps someday they will tie these issues together. In the meantime, if you come from a family of smokers just avoid tobacco products all together as this will likely help you to break the cycle which is probably more about nurture than nature but then again anything is possible. And if you are from a family of addictive personalities then it is important that you do your best to stay away from any and all addictive substances.