All it takes is one cigarette!

Up to now, it was thought it took a few years for smokers to become addicted, but the latest research shows addiction takes place in days

LONDON -- Scientists have confirmed a suspicion held by some smokers but never proven: it could take just one cigarette to become addicted.

Experts have tried for years to determine how long people have to smoke before becoming addicted, said Dr Richard Hurt, director of the Nicotine Dependency Unit at the Mayo Clinic in the United States.

"The best answer to date has been one to two years," said Dr Hurt, who was not involved with the latest research. "There's been a suspicion that many people become addicted very quickly, but this is really the first hard evidence that we've had that this occurs."

Research reported in the British Medical Association journal, Tobacco Control, found that several 12- and 13-year-olds showed evidence of addiction within a few days of their first cigarette.

Dr Hurt said the findings would help scientists better understand the biology of nicotine addiction and lend more plausibility to the idea that some people may be more susceptible genetically to it than others.

The study was conducted by scientists at the University of Massachusetts in 1998. The experts followed 681 teenagers aged 12 and 13 from seven schools incentral Massachusetts for a year and tracked their smoking habits.

The researchers did not label any of them as addicted because the standard definition of nicotine dependence assumes that addiction cannot happen without prolonged heavy smoking.

The scientists simply recorded symptoms that indicate addiction. Symptoms include cravings, needing to smoke more to get the same buzz, withdrawal symptoms when not smoking, feeling addicted to tobacco and loss of control over the number of cigarettes smoked or the duration of smoking.

A total of 95 teens said they had started smoking occasionally - at least one cigarette a month - during the study.

The scientists found that 63 per cent of them had one or more symptoms of addiction.

A quarter of those with symptoms got them within two weeks of starting to smoke and several said their symptoms began within a few days.

Sixty-two per cent said they had their first symptom before they began smoking every day, or that the symptoms had made them start smoking daily.

"The really important implication of this study is that we have to warn kids that you can't just fool around with cigarettes or experiment with them for a few weeks and then give them up," said Dr Joseph DiFranza, who led the research team.

"If you fool around with cigarettes for a few weeks, you may be addicted for life." - AP.