well, im not one to climb up on a soapbox..however, as im now dealing with my moms failing heatlh, i feel the need.. she started smoking around 10. she smoked up till she had a major stroke about 2 yrs ago. she was 68 at that time and the docs tied the stroke to her smoking. but for the last 15 yrs she suffered from all the problems assciociated with smoking, including a fun little disease called renards syndrome which causes your finger and toe nails to rot and fall off. and as an aside, i have asthma and am elergic to cigerette smoke which made it fun growin up in a house filled with a blue haze...