After Queen Elizabeth tried tobacco, it became "all the rage" among the upper class, Albert Donnenberg, professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh said.

Donnenberg spoke to about 300 students from the Interfraternity (IFC) and Panhellenic (PHC) Councils Monday night, giving a presentation called "Pros and Cons of Tobacco Use."

The PHC partnered with Project SmokeLess and University Health Services to host the event.

Leah Donnenberg, PHC vice president for programming, said she wanted to hold the program and could not think of anyone more qualified than her dad.

"It's a really important topic on this campus because a lot of people socially smoke," Donnenberg (junior-advertising/public relations) said. "There are always programs on the effects of alcohol, but rarely any on the effects of smoking."

Albert Donnenberg, after explaining he did not want to be preachy because it is his job to weigh all sides of an issue, began with the pros of tobacco use.

He included the spiritual experience, nicotine as the ideal drug and the social aspect of smoking in the pros.

Donnenberg also brought up the cons, which included bad breath, stained teeth and a higher likelihood of erectile dysfunction in men, he said. Negative health effects from smoking include lung cancer, lung disease and heart attack, among many others, he added.

He shared with the audience his own "tobacco odyssey," where he showed a picture of himself as a baby and said the day he was born was the first time he quit smoking -- his mother smoked during her pregnancy. He said he took up smoking again when he was 17 and continued off and on until he was 27.

"It was a nightmare," he said about quitting for the final time.

The facts about the amount of diseases caused by smoking were informative, Seth Goldberg (junior-information, science and technology) said.

"It's definitely a relevant topic," he said. "Around here it seems like everyone smokes."

Albert Donnenberg finished the presentation with some final advice to the audience: "Be media literate" and "be critical at what you're looking at."