HEADLINES

• Swiss Indoors Tennis Tournament forced to drop tobacco sponsor
• Stansted Airport tobacco smugglers foiled
• Really? The Claim: Smoking Relieves Stress
• USA: Tobacco Company's Rep Spent $2.32M Lobbying in 2Q
• BBC Radio: Hearts and Lungs - Radio 4 Sunday 15th August , 5pm (UK)

• Swiss Indoors Tennis Tournament forced to drop tobacco sponsor

  One of world sport's last tobacco sponsorships is ending, at the Swiss Indoors tennis event in Roger Federer's hometown of Basel.

  Tournament organizers say the 2010 event in November is the last of a 17-year partnership with tobacco brand Davidoff.

  Swiss Indoors said in a statement that the ATP World Tour told the tournament in June the existing sponsorship could not be extended because of worldwide laws restricting tobacco advertising on television.

  The tournament was promoted in status last year to an ATP 500 event, giving the tour central control over TV rights.

  The 2009 Swiss Indoors was broadcast in 150 countries and had a six-fold increase in ratings, but the sponsor's name was dropped during transmissions.

  Source: The Associated Press, 11 August 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/cZwhtI

• Stansted Airport tobacco smugglers foiled

  Three separate attempts to smuggle chewing tobacco through Stansted Airport have been thwarted by UK Border Agency officers.

  Officers seized a total of 870kg of chewing tobacco spread over three freight consignments.

  The packages had originated in Belgium and were destined for addresses in London and Hook, Hampshire. In an attempt to evade duty in excess of £66,000 the importers had listed the goods simply as “chewing products”.

  Assistant director for the UK Border Agency at Stansted, Sarah Wolstenholme, said: “Vigilant UK Border Agency officers spotted an anomaly in the paperwork and authorised a search. From that point on the detection was straightforward, the smugglers had made no attempt at concealment and were hoping that the consignments would simply go unchecked.

  “The tobacco was undoubtedly headed for the black market, cheating the British taxpayer and undermining honest traders.

  The tobacco will be taken to an incinerator plant, where it will be burned – and the energy fed straight into London’s electricity supply.

  Source: Saffron Waldon Reporter, 10 August 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/a1pNRp

• Really? The Claim: Smoking Relieves Stress

  The benefits of quitting smoking — reduced risk of cancer and many other health problems — are known. But for millions of smokers, the calming effect of a cigarette can be reason enough to start up again.

  Studies have found, however, that in reality, lighting up has the opposite effect, causing long-term stress levels to rise, not fall. For those dependent on smoking, the only stress it relieves is the withdrawal between cigarettes.

  In a recent study conducted at the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, researchers looked at 469 people who tried to quit after being hospitalized for heart disease. At the start, the subjects had similar levels of stress and generally believed that smoking helped them to cope.

  A year later, 41 percent had managed to stay abstinent. After controlling for several factors, the scientists found that the abstainers had “a significantly larger decrease in perceived stress,” roughly a 20 percent drop, compared with the continuing smokers, who showed little change.

  The scientists’ hypothesis was that the continuing smokers were dealing with uncomfortable cravings between cigarettes multiple times a day, while the abstainers, after facing some initial withdrawal, had greater freedom from nicotine cravings and thus had eliminated a frequent and significant source of stress.

  Other studies have also found that smokers experience higher levels of stress and tension between cigarettes and lower levels over all when they quit.

  Source: The New York Times, 09 August 2010
  Link: http://nyti.ms/9OZp6v

• USA: Tobacco Company's Rep Spent $2.32M Lobbying in 2Q

  Altria Client Services Inc., on behalf of the nation's biggest cigarette maker, spent $2.32 million lobbying the federal government in the second quarter on issues including the budget, taxes and other issues according to a recent disclosure form.

  That's less than the $3.9 million the company spent on lobbying a year earlier and the $3.1 million it spent in the first quarter.

  Other issues Altria lobbied on in the April through June period included smuggled tobacco, cigarette trafficking and preventing cigarette trafficking, and access to courts, according to its July 20 filing with the House clerk's office.

  Altria lobbied only Congress during the quarter.

  Altria Group Inc., based in Richmond, Va., is the owner of Philip Morris USA and makes top-selling Marlboro cigarettes and other tobacco products.

  Source: ABC News, 10 August 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/cwrSPy

• BBC Radio: Hearts and Lungs - Radio 4 Sunday 15th August , 5pm (UK)

  BBC Radio 4 broadcast the programme The Battle for Hearts and Lungs last night and will be repeated next Sunday, 15th August, 5pm(UK) and also on BBC World Service on 27th August, 9.05am(UK).

  Sue Armstrong investigates the growing pressure on developing countries as tobacco companies battle for the hearts and lungs of new smokers. At the same time poorer countries such as Malawi are becoming increasingly dependent on tobacco as a cash crop.

  The programme examines Malawi's growing dependency on tobacco. Although the government has tried to introduce minimum prices, small farmers hardly cover their costs and continue to live on less than a dollar a day.

  Click here to listen to the programme on BBC iplayer.

  Source: BBC World Service Programmes
  Link: http://bit.ly/bzQc0w