I don't think there's been any research into the effects of quitting after a lifetime of smoking but I have heard plenty of evidence of people who have smoked from childhood to old age who give up and then suddenly drop dead.
And judging from this graph it would appear that lung cancer affects those who quit more than those who don't.
I am rather persuaded by the Tory personal responsibility for one's own health idea and I certainly know who has my best health interests at heart. Me.
The years I have smoked are part of the reason why I would never quit - certainly not until some proper research has been done that indicates what might happen if I did.
My mother - who didn't start smoking until she was in her 30s, smoked while I was in her womb. I took up the habit at 8 years old. That is a lot of years smoking and a body that has evolved around tobacco smoke.
If I suddenly stopped would my body then give up because it isn't getting a vital component that it has been used to all it's life from conception to middle age with a short break between?
Of course I'll never know because lung cancer, for example, is the least funded when it comes to cancer research which really is about just funding anti-smoking projects and not serious research into what happens when lifelong smokers quit.