Smoking minus the nicotine seems like non-alcoholic beer to me – what’s the point? I’m not a smoker (or a drinker, for that matter) but I don’t see the purpose in indulging in a vice unless it’s bad for you. Hey – I isolated the gene that makes strippers take off their clothes! Now we can have non-nude strippers!

Professor Kazufumi Yazaki, a plant molecular biologist at Kyoto University’s Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, has spent three year identifying the Nt-JAT1 gene as the transporter for nicotine.

He said creating a cigarette that still tastes of tobacco but does no damage to human health is his next aim.

“We will proceed now with experiments to raise tobacco plants that have no nicotine in their leaves, although there may still be some problems to overcome,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

You said it, Doc – I’m sure Big Tobacco is enthralled with the prospect of tobacco products with no addictive qualities. Maybe the mormons will go for it…