Sydney (dpa) - Why is it that some smokers find it relatively easy to give up smoking and others seem to be on a mission impossible?

Researchers in Australia said Thursday that the answer to this riddle might be specific genes that predispose individuals to nicotine addiction.

The research team, headed by geneticist Nick Martin of the Queensland Institute of Research, has won an 8-million-Australian- dollar (4.3-million-U.S.-dollar) grant from the U.S. government to help pay for its quest to find a rogue gene.

Finding the nicotine gene would help in concocting medications for those desperate to give up smoking but are not being helped by the patches, pills, inhalers and fake cigarettes on the market at the moment.

Martin said that current medications don't work well "because they're treating symptoms rather than the actual root cause of the addiction".

(From Sohu)