i was actually wondering, on a whim, if being a habitual smoker could lower the risk of tapeworm and other parasitic infection. still wondering; it doesn't appear as though anybody's studied this. know a kid studying biology? there's an iconoclastic research topic for them...
this is neat though, and contributes to the "you didn't think all these life forms around us were going to just give up and quit evolving, did you?" anti-anthropocentric view i periodically post on.
http://www.personal.psu.edu/afr3/blogs/siowfa12/2012/12/one-of-the-few-benefits-of-smoking.html
to clarify: i was wondering if it might be a natural explanation for tobacco use. well, lots of animals do lots of things to get rid of parasites. maybe humans smoked tobacco for that reason. entirely rational.
yeah, i think i might be on to something. not nicotine, but ayahuasca:
"Its purgative properties are important (known as la purga or "the purge"). The intense vomiting and occasional diarrhea it induces can clear the body of worms and other tropical parasites,[28] and harmala alkaloids themselves have been shown to be anthelmintic[29] Thus, this action is twofold; a direct action on the parasites by these harmala alkaloids (particularly harmine in ayahuasca) works to kill the parasites, and parasites are expelled through the increased intestinal motility that is caused by these alkaloids."