9781422272312

Smoking and vaping addiction

CIGARETTES AND TOBACCO PRODUCTS The Predatory Drug DEADLY VAPING ADDITIVES CBD, THC, and Contaminants FACTS AND FIGURES Smoking and Vaping NICOTINE ADVERTISING AND SALES Big Business for Young Clientele NICOTINE AND GENETICS The Hereditary Predisposition NICOTINE TREATMENTS Fighting to Breathe Again NICOTINE Negative Effects on the Adolescent Brain PEER PRESSURE TO SMOKE OR VAPE Finding the Strength in You VAPING The New Cool Way to a Shorter Life

ERIC BENAC

PO Box 221876, Hollywood, FL 33022 (866) MCP-BOOK (toll-free) • www.masoncrest.com

Copyright © 2022 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America First printing 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Series ISBN: 978-1-4222-4579-8 Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4222-4584-2 ebook ISBN: 978-1-4222-7231-2 Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file with the Library of Congress

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Understanding Genetics . ........................................ 7 Chapter 2: The Combination of Genetics and Culture . ........ 23 Chapter 3: Genetic Mutations May Affect Smoking Risk ..... 39 Chapter 4: How Smoking Impacts a Person’s Depression Risk ...................................... 53 Chapter 5: T he Possibilities for Genetic Treatments . .......... 69 Chapter Notes ............................................................................ 83 Series Glossary of Key Terms ................................................... 86 Further Reading . ....................................................................... 89 Internet Resources .................................................................... 91 Index . .......................................................................................... 92 Author’s Biography / Credits . .................................................. 96 KEY ICONS TO LOOK FOR: Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text while building vocabulary skills. Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Educational videos: Readers can view videos by scanning our QR codes, providing them with additional educational content to supplement the text. Examples include news coverage, moments in history, speeches, iconic sports moments, and much more! Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented there. Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains terminology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field.

A person’s physical features, such as hair color, eye color and shape, and skin color, are determined by their genes. In recent years, scientists have found that genes also play a role in addiction to nicotine. WORDS TO UNDERSTAND abnormalities: things that are notably different or unusual. A genetic mutation is an abnormality because it may be unique to one particular animal or species allele: one of two or more alternative forms of a gene that arise by mutation and are found at the same place on a chromosome chromosome: a threadlike structure of nucleic acids and protein found in the nuclei of most living cells, which carries genetic information DNA: deoxyribonucleic acid, a material that carries genetic information and is present in the chromosomes of all living organisms heredity: the passing on of physical or mental characteristics genetically from one generation to another predisposition: an increased likelihood that a person will act or react in a certain way, or suffer from a certain condition. A genetic predisposition means that a person is likely to inherit a trait from his or her parents RNA: ribonucleic acid, a nucleic acid present in all living cells that acts as a messenger carrying instructions from DNA for controlling the synthesis of proteins

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Nicotine and Genetics: The Hereditary Predisposition

1 CHAPTER

Understanding Genetics

Anyone who is concerned about the dangers of nicotine or drug abuse needs to understand genetics. That’s because genetics can have a major impact on the likelihood that a person will smoke, chew tobacco, or use an electronic vaporizing device. And yet, few people understand how genetic factors can place nicotine users at a higher risk for addiction, as well as for various health problems. Genetics is the study of how traits such as hair color, eye color, and risk for disease are passed from parents to their children. These inherited traits can differ from person to person. Inherited traits or genes can impact a person’s day-to-day life in ways that they may not recognize or understand. For example, people who are overweight may find it harder to lose weight because of the genes and inherited traits that were passed to them from their parents. As a result, it is critical to take a look at these concepts to get a better idea of why children of smokers so often pick up the habit themselves, and why entire families of smokers aren’t uncommon. In later chapters, the concepts of genetic predisposition , and even genetic mutation, will be discussed in more depth, as these also impact a person’s risk of smoking and how difficult it may be for them to quit.

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Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a molecule that carries the genetic instructions used in the development, functioning, and reproduction of all living organisms. Each DNA molecule is made of chemicals called nucleotides. These DNA building blocks include one of four nitrogen bases: adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine, along with sugars and phosphates. The sequence of the nucleotides establishes the genetic instructions that are contained in each strand of DNA.

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Nicotine and Genetics: The Hereditary Predisposition

The Basics of Genetics Before talking about genetics, it is important to define a few critical terms. First of all, genetics as a science consists of the study of heredity and the ways that genes affect a person’s physical and emotional makeup. There are many elements that make up this science, each of which has to be fully understood before grasping their impact on nicotine and smoking risks. Genes are “the units of heredity and are the instructions that make up the body’s blueprint. They code for the proteins that determine virtually all of a person’s characteristics,” explains an online course from the University of Miami Health System. “Most genes come in pairs and are made of strands of genetic material called deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA .” Humans have access to around 35,000 genes, each of which is combined in unique ways for each person. Another substance, called “ribonucleic acid” ( RNA ), carries instructions from DNA to the cells that control how they grow. The ways that DNA and RNA work in a living body are sometimes referred to as the “genetic code.” A very complex series of gene combinations make a person who they are as an individual. Think of DNA as a computer program—each strand gives a person’s body the instructions necessary for operating and developing. And while most of a person’s DNA code will be shared with others—particularly members of their family—small variations in the DNA can cause major changes in a person. Variations on genes are referred to as alleles . A change in just one allele can impact much about a person. Eye-color alleles, for instance, are single genes that dictate the color and tone of a person’s eyes. The same is true of hair-color alleles. Just a change of a few genes, and a person’s hair is blonde instead of brown. However, a person does not have access to an unlimited amount of genetic code. Instead, they are made up only of what their parents

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Understanding Genetics

The structure of DNA is a double helix, a pair of intertwined strands of chemicals wrapped around a common axis. Each DNA strand within the double helix is a long, linear molecule made of nucleotides that form a chain.

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Nicotine and Genetics: The Hereditary Predisposition

HOW VIRUSES USE DNA AND RNA

pass down to them. This genetic transference occurs when the mother’s egg is fertilized by the father’s sperm. When combining, the egg and the sperm produce one-half of the child’s DNA, with some traits being passed down and others not. Traits that are more likely to be passed are called “dominant,” and those that are less likely are called recessive. For example, brown eyes are a dominant trait and will occur if a child’s unique DNA combination includes genes for brown eyes from their parents. So, if a child has both brown- and blue-eye genes, they will have brown eyes. But if they, instead, get passed two blue-eye genes from brown- eyed parents who have recessive blue-eye genes, they will surprise everyone by having blue eyes. All of these unique possibilities make genetics a very interesting and exciting science to follow. It can also produce some very unexpected results when having a child. The exact combination The study of genetics often goes hand-in-hand with fighting viral diseases, such as COVID-19 or influenza. That’s because a virus is little more than a packet of rogue genetic information that invades a person’s cells, forcing them to reproduce the virus. This act causes the cell to burst, spreading more virus DNA and RNA. The sickness a person experiences when invaded by a virus is not caused by the virus itself but by the body’s attempt to control the spread of it: congestion in the nose and throat is intended to stop the passage of the viral material, while high fevers are the body’s method of destroying the virus.

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Understanding Genetics

of genes is often a crapshoot, which can be scary to those who are concerned about some types of diseases. For example, the unique physical and mental characteristics of people with Down syndrome are caused when a person has one extra copy of the twenty-first chromosome on their DNA strand. Other conditions, such as sickle cell anemia, are also caused by just one variation in a person’s genetic code. A person’s whole life and health could be heavily affected by their DNA.

The DNA molecule is tightly coiled and packaged inside of the chromosomes. All of a person’s hereditary information, called the genome, is encoded in DNA. The human genome contains about 3 billion nucleotides and about 20,000 genes, which are contained in twenty-three pairs of chromosomes.

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Nicotine and Genetics: The Hereditary Predisposition

As a result, it is important to take a look at genetic disorders to get a feel for how they can impact a person and their risk of becoming a smoker. The following section will discuss a few of these common disorders, how they develop, and the different ways that they may cause a person to struggle with nicotine or other types of problematic addictions. Genetic Disorders Genetic disorders occur when there is a fault in a person’s DNA that triggers many types of health problems. Before delving into that further, it is important to examine chromosomes and their impact on DNA. A person’s strands of DNA are, as mentioned, made up of genes inherited from their parents. These genes combine to create a chromosome, which is a building block of DNA. Each person’s DNA should have forty-six chromosomes in twenty- three pairs—these all dictate every element of a person’s original biological makeup. For example, there is a height chromosome that is made up of genes from both parents. The dominant gene, as mentioned above, will prevail. So, if two short parents each pass a gene for a shorter height to their child, their height chromosome will keep the child short. However, the same thing can happen if two tall parents each have a short recessive gene that they pass to their child. While the exact genetic material a person gets from their parents is randomized during the fertilization process, the layout of the DNA is not. A chromosome in one person’s DNA also controls the same thing in another person’s. Take the twenty-third chromosomal pair as an example. This combination always dictates a person’s sex—a person who has two X chromosomes will be a girl, and a person with an X and a Y chromosome will be a boy. This uniformity helps to make genetics a very streamlined science.

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Understanding Genetics

Chromosomes can only be seen under a microscope when a cell is about to divide.

However, there are times when a person’s genetic code may not be what is expected. “Genetic disorders can happen for many reasons,” explains the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Genetic disorders often are described in terms of the chromosome that contains the gene. If the gene is on one of the first twenty-two pairs of chromosomes, called the autosomes, the genetic disorder is called an autosomal condition. If the gene is on the X chromosome, the disorder is called X-linked.” Previously, Down syndrome and sickle cell anemia were highlighted as common genetic disorders. However, other disorders are caused by mutations in a person’s genetic code. These mutations

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Nicotine and Genetics: The Hereditary Predisposition

happen for many reasons and are almost always unpredictable— hence the sometimes weird nature of evolution. Take the duckbilled platypus as an example—the mutations that produced that animal’s unique appearance were random, but they have worked for that particular animal and have helped the species continue to exist for millions of years. Like genes, genetic disorders are split into dominant and recessive problems. A dominant genetic disorder occurs when the mutation occurs to a dominant gene. For example, a family’s dominant gene for brown eyes may mutate to cause a person to have two different colored eyes. When such a mutation occurs on a dominant gene, every child a parent produces has a 50 percent chance of also having that same genetic disorder.

Segments of DNA that carry specific coded information are called genes. The specific genes for a particular trait are always found in the same place on a DNA strand.

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Understanding Genetics

Scan here to learn more about genetic predispositions.

Recessive disorders, by contrast, are caused by mutations in recessive genes and produce a 25 percent chance of creating a disease only if both parents have the mutation. This means that such mutations are much less likely to occur in a child. However, the parent is considered a “carrier” of this genetic disorder and may pass the recessive gene to their child even if they don’t exhibit the disorder. The child’s child could subsequently develop this disease. For example, a parent with a recessive disorder that causes type-1 diabetes may not have the disease themselves. However, they pass the gene to their child, who does not develop the disease, because their other parent did not have this mutation. Unfortunately, this person with the recessive gene then has four children with another person who has the same recessive gene mutation—one of their four children is likely to have type-1 diabetes.

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Nicotine and Genetics: The Hereditary Predisposition