Oh, those devilish Swedish researchers

What vice won't they find the good side of? Note that the headline of this story begins with the phrase "health warning."

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Tobacco may have at least one virtue -- that of providing some protection against the onset of Parkinson's disease according to a new Swedish study.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden's leading medical research center, looked at the medical and death records of sets of Swedish twins, in which one smoked and the other did not.

"Many studies have shown a protective effect of cigarette smoking on Parkinson's disease," said the study published online this month by the Annals of Neurology -- but many have argued that this may have been due to genetic factors.

By studying twins with different life styles, the researchers said they sought to exclude the genetic factor.

They found no association between Parkinson's disease, a degenerative neurological condition, and alcohol, coffee or place of residence.

But smokers appeared to be less affected, which the researchers said, confirmed "the protective effect of smoking on Parkinson's disease" and established that the association "is only partially explained by genetic and familial environmental factors."

Now, with a Pell Mell in one hand, a cup of breast milk in the other to wash down a tab of Viagra, a dish of cocktail peanuts nearby, a serving of raw fish from Mr. Toshitsune's kitchen, and a little of this stuff they've been giving to mice, we will all be pretty good to go, until the end of the world as we know it.