Link Between Smoking, Arthritis Severity Explained
(NY, Reuters Health, 3/15/02)

When Dr. Derek Mattey of Staffordshire Rheumatology Centre in the UK studied women who had rheumatoid arthritis, he found that smokers, and even ex-smokers, who lacked the GSTM1 gene in their genetic makeup were more likely to suffer from more severe arthritis. These findings suggest that the detoxifying enzyme that the GSTM1 gene causes the body to produce may counteract the damaging chemicals associated with smoking.