[Ditter]

It all goes back to the allergy gene. My parents came from allergic backgrounds but did not have any allergies themselves. They passed those genes onto their children. You become allergic to the things you are exposed to and we were exposed to a house /car clouded with tobacco smoke our whole young lives. Had we not grown up in tobacco smoke it is likely that it would not cause us problems today.

[Bigh4u2]

"You become allergic to the things you are exposed to"

That's not how an 'allergic' reaction works.

Allergies are not 'things that you are exposed to' but an 'immune' deficiency that you were born with.

Your body reacts to something because it has no dense against it. My wife is allergic to bees and will have a violent reaction to being stung. And she didn't need to be 'exposed' to bees for very long either. One sting is all it takes.

Allergies are not 'acquired' through exposer and actually can come and go depending upon your physical condition.

The only 'acquired' immune deficiency is AIDS and that is just a nasty virus.

When I was young I had and allergy to tomatoes, although mild. Over the years that allergy has reduced to an 'irritant', and not even a consistent one. Sometimes I can eat tomatoes or tomato sauce with no ill effects. Sometimes I have a reaction.

"Had we not grown up in tobacco smoke it is likely that it would not cause us problems today."

Nope. Smoke was not the cause of your breathing problems.

Just a convenient explanation.