We have known for many years that smoking is harmful to your health.  Many smokers try to quit but for whatever reason are unable to do so.  Even the warnings on the packages of cigarettes do little to deter smoking. 

Another warning about smoking and its harmful effects will probably do little to stop the smoker from picking up his cigarette.  However there is a simple test for one carcinogen in the smoker’s urine whose presence is related to the smoker’s likelihood of developing lung cancer. 

While this test may not cause the smoker to stop his bad habit, it may cause smokers to be screened more often.  As with any cancer, the sooner a tumor is found, the more likely it will be cured.  A person with a high level of both nicotine and of the carcinogen NNAL is eight and one half times as likely to develop cancer as the smoker with lower levels. 

The researchers still say that the best advice that can be given to any smoker is to stop smoking.  Twenty-three percent of all smokers in the U.S say that they would quit if they could.  Perhaps this test will give them the impetus that they need to quit.