Finally...some good news on this whole tobacco thing:

Tobacco may have at least one virtue - that of providing some protection against the onset of Parkinson's disease.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden's leading medical research centre, have looked at the medical and death records of sets of Swedish twins in which one smoked and the other did not.

"Many studies have shown a protective effect of cigarette smoking on Parkinson's disease," said the study.

The study was published online this month by the Annals of Neurology.

Not that I'm suggesting anybody start 'cause of this'n, but since Parkinson's runs in my family, hey, cool....