This historical backdrop provides a unique opportunity to examine both causal and non-causal arguments about gene-by-environment interactions, and the timing of the first Surgeon General’s Report creates a naturally occurring quasi-experimental design to test the value of treating the smoking population as a sociogenetic composition that changes over time. Using the causal/non-causal G × E distinction between the social control, social trigger, and social push arguments in combination with the changing social and institutional forces with respect to smoking, we hypothesize that genetic influences on smoking will change in predictable ways across birth cohorts.
