[Anti-Bubba182]

I don't know if this is plausible. More likely the child observes the parent smoking, concludes it is OK, then starts and get hooked. Enviornment is the more likely cause.

[HOTTIEBOY]

Enviornment is the more likely cause.

Yep. Peer presure, trying to fit in, trying to have a "cool" image.
My parents smoked....I wasn't doomed. I tried it for a little while just like all kids, never picked it up.

[3AngelaD]

Nope, I'm convinced it's hereditary. The only other person in my family who smoked was my elderly granny. All of her granddaughters ended up smoking at one time or another, and had to wrestle with the quitting. Granny lived to be 97.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Agree.

[Mr. Brightside]

Enviornment is the more likely cause.

And fetal peer pressure. That's why I never let my unborn baby hang around other unborn babies who smoked.

[Mad Dawg]

It's entirely plausible to me. Of course in matters of addiction there will be variations, so the "Well, HAIL, my mother smoked like a chimney and I never touched the stuff," argument is not dispositive.

Nicotine is powerful stuff. Addition and serotonin are powerful stuffs. People vary widely in their response to things - from glutein to peanuts to fava beans to booze. Some people taking statin drugs lose their sense of taste.

When you cosinder the wide range of reactions to drugs, and the power of nicotine to affect appetite, mood, sensation, AND the lack of evidence that it cannot cross the placenta, I can well imagine there being "nicotine babies the way there are "crack babies".

[Marie]

My grandparents never touched tobacco. 5 out of 6 of their kids are smokers. My mother didn't start smoking until I was 3. I'm a smoker.

I know, I know. Anecdotal evidence is about as worthwhile as spit, but so many of these studies fly in the face of what people actually observe.