R.J. Reynolds’ Grandson is an Anti-Smoking Activist
Patrick Reynolds, the grandson of tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds, learned at an early age the damage smoking can 
do. “My only memories of my father, R.J. Reynolds Jr., are of a man lying down, dying of smoking,” he said. “He died of emphysema when I was 15, and I remember him coughing and gasping for breath and looking more and more sick and frail every time I saw him.”
He asked his dad if he thought his illness might be related to the cigarettes he smoked. “He had a cigarette in his hand, and said: ‘Oh, no, I don’t think so.’ He was in denial about the fact that smoking was killing him.” But Patrick had no doubt. “Cigarettes took my father away from me,” he said, as they did his oldest brother, R.J. Reynolds III, and other members of his family.
Patrick sold his tobacco stock in 1979. In 1986, he began to campaign for smoke-free laws, higher cigarette taxes, limitations on tobacco advertising and marketing, and regulation of tobacco by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In 1989, he founded the Foundation for a Smokefree America, a nonprofit group with a mission to motivate youths to stay tobacco free and empower smokers to quit successfully.
He has spoken before Congress, to state legislatures, to major corporations and in a variety of educational settings, while being featured in publications that include Time and Newsweek and on programs that include “Oprah,” “Good Morning America,” the “Today” show, and “Larry King Live.”
Smoking May Thin the Brain
Many brain imaging studies have reported that tobacco smoking is associated with large-scale and wide-spread 
structural brain abnormalities.
The cerebral cortex is a specific area of the brain responsible for many important higher-order functions, including language, information processing, and memory. Reduced cortical thickness has been associated with normal aging, reduced intelligence, and impaired cognition.
However, prior research had not described the impact of smoking upon cortical thickness.
Can Smoking Just One Cigarette or Breathing Secondhand Smoke Harm Your DNA?
Exposure to tobacco smoke (even occasional smoking or secondhand smoke) causes immediate damage to your body that can lead to serious illness or death, according to a 700-page report released December 9, 2010, by U.S. Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin. It’s called How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease.
“The chemicals in tobacco smoke reach your lungs quickly every time you inhale causing damage immediately,” Benjamin said. “Inhaling even the smallest amount of tobacco smoke can also damage your DNA, which can lead to cancer.”
The report also explains why it is so difficult to quit smoking. According to the research, cigarettes are designed for addiction. The design and contents of current tobacco products make them more attractive and addictive than ever before. Today’s cigarettes deliver nicotine more quickly and efficiently than cigarettes of many years ago.
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