So you've been an ex-smoker for a relatively short period of time. Most smokers start young, so you may been puffing for more than a decade. We, ahh, won't poke into your private life further. Simply be advised that these coaltars themselves may play a role in gene regulation and cell turnover.

Per the milk thistle: I use vitaminshoppe.com's version, 70 mg, 80% silymarins, 300 caps, 21 bucks (you can watch for coupons specials).

I quoted you the highest dosage, assuming that you'd want maximum protection. You can use lesser, 2 caps, 3x day, which should be sufficient for 50 days. I would purchase a smaller bottle of milk thistle from Wally World (which is also standardized to 80% silymarins, I believe its 120 mg whole extract) to get you started.

What I do isn't the question, its what are my credentials.

PhD, 25+ yrs research in protein biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, environmental microbial ecology/toxicology. Quite a few professional pubs, work in liver and adrenal biochem, worked in a lab that pioneered much of the common knowledge of SR biochemistry in skeletal muscle cell..thank god I had finished with purified mito proteins and worked mostly with bacteria by that time. Bashing bunnies wasn't my cup of tea. However, they do make kickass polyclonal antibodies when needed.

(its late, you get what you get here...twisted lab humor <grin>)

Lest the mention of bacteria throw you for a loop, let me assure you, sir, that you and I share a remarkable percentage of DNA homology with our microbial buddies. Life has a way of being quite conservative in hording a genetic "good thing" (as Dear Martha would say, were she tuned into microbial genetics instead of foolishly dabbling in the stockmarket).