BACKGROUND: New molecular techniques focus a genetic lens upon nicotine addiction. Given the medical and economic costs associated with smoking, innovative approaches to smoking cessation and prevention must be pursued; but can sound research be manipulated by the tobacco industry? METHODOLOGY: The chronological narrative of this paper was created using iterative reviews of primary sources (the Legacy tobacco Documents), supplemented with secondary literature to provide a broader context. The empirical data inform an ethics and policy analysis of tobacco industry-funded research. FINDINGS: The search for a genetic basis for smoking is consistent with industry's decades-long plan to deflect responsibility away from the tobacco companies and onto individuals' genetic constitutions. Internal documents reveal long-standing support for genetic research as a strategy to relieve the tobacco industry of its legal responsibility for tobacco-related disease. CONCLUSIONS: Industry may turn the findings of genetics to its own ends, changing strategy from creating a 'safe' cigarette to defining a 'safe' smoker.
