It may be of interest to note that in a study published in the international peer-reviewed journal Psychopharmacology in 2006 (Scerri C., Stewart C.A., Breen K., Balfour D.J.K., The effects of chronic nicotine on spatial learning and bromodeoxyuridine incorporation in the dentate gyrus of the rat), using rats as animal models, we established that chronic nicotine administration, in doses equivalent to heavy smoking, significantly inhibit learning and memory formation while damaging brain cells.

This research was funded by the University of Malta and conducted in collaboration with a UK university.

I am delighted that the human data mentioned in the feature on how smoking causes mental decline (November 27) partly confirm our observations.

This work was also given coverage by The Times in an interview titled Smoke Gets in Your Brain (November 14).