HEADLINES

• Will the gym help you quit smoking? Maybe, says new study
• Impact of smoking on breast cancer may be greater risk than previously thought
• Australia: Opposition coalition fine with tobacco industry donations
• Australia: Big tobacco lobby 'scaremongering'
• Australia: Alex Perry cuts down smoking for World No Tobacco Day

• Will the gym help you quit smoking? Maybe, says new study

  New research published in the journal Addictive Behaviors, found that subjects who hit the gym noticed a post-workout reduction in cigarette cravings, but they didn't last long, from just hours to 1-2 days. However, the beneficial effect can be 'renewed' with each additional exercise session.

  "One implication for these findings is that exercise may be a useful treatment strategy," said David Williams, researcher at the US's Brown University, "but it has to be done frequently enough and consistently enough because the effects that it has diminish over time."

   

  Exercise produces neurotransmitters including dopamine, a feel-good chemical that can provide the same positive mood as smoking, and can help relieve stress and reduce depression, two key factors that can help you fight off an addiction or any other bad habit.

   

  Further Coverage:

   

  Netdoctor: Beneficial effect of exercise on tobacco cravings 'is short-lived'  http://bit.ly/mvTYtL
  Source: The Independent, 24 May 2011
  Link: http://ind.pn/jDA2oH

• Impact of smoking on breast cancer may be greater risk than previously thought

  A large prospective study of healthy women at higher risk for breast cancer found that the impact of smoking was even greater than had been demonstrated in other studies.

  The results of the study, which were presented in advance of the American Society of Clinical Oncology  2011 Annual Meeting, found that not only was the risk for invasive breast cancer higher in smokers than in nonsmokers, but that it increased according to years of cigarette smoking.

   

  Lead author Stephanie R. Land, PhD, explained that women who smoked for between 15 and 35 years had a 34% higher risk for breast cancer than women who never smoked, whereas those who smoked for less than 15 years had no increased risk.

   

  For women who are already at high risk for breast cancer, smoking is even more dangerous.
  Source: Medscape Medical News, 24 May 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/lPP5B0

• Australia: Opposition coalition fine with tobacco industry donations

  The opposition Coalition has hit back at moves to ban political donations from tobacco companies. A parade of Coalition backbenchers fronted reporters outside Parliament this morning, saying that because tobacco is a legal product, donations from tobacco companies should be legal as well.

  Labor stopped accepting donations from cigarette companies in 2004, but the Coalition has been given $1.7 million by the industry since that time.

   

  Green Party leader Bob Brown will introduce a bill in the Senate designed to prevent tobacco companies donating to political parties or candidates, saying the donations influence policy.

   

  But Senator Brown says "we need to clear the air of tobacco smoke pollution" in Parliament House.
  Source: ABC News, 25 May 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/mqyO6N

• Australia: Big tobacco lobby 'scaremongering'

  Tobacco industry claims that international crime gangs are flooding Australia with smuggled cigarettes, are being investigated by the competition watchdog, but the allegations have been emphatically denied by Customs and Border Protection.

  The claims are part of a campaign against the government's plan to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes, which is expected to culminate in a constitutional challenge in the High Court of Australia.

   

  But Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor, who is responsible for customs, accused the powerful tobacco lobby of scaremongering to protect its commercial interests.  ''Big tobacco regularly quotes from reports that it commissions itself - rather than the independent research - because independent research does not back its claims.''

  
  The Alliance of Australian Retailers, set up and funded by Australia's three biggest tobacco firms, recently ran nationwide ads that claimed more children would smoke illegal tobacco if plain packaging was introduced.

   

  Anti-cancer groups have asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate the campaign, which was branded ''misleading and deceptive'' by Quit Victoria executive director Fiona Sharkie.
   
  Source: The Age.com.au, 22 May 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/j8Hia5

• Australia: Alex Perry cuts down smoking for World No Tobacco Day

  Australian fashion designer Alex Perry, said that it has been hard to drop from 20 cigarettes a day to five because smoking is"synonymous" with a career in the fashion industry.

  Perry said: "I think the fashion industry is known for smoking, if that makes sense. It's a glass of champagne and a cigarette, and it's all fabulous darling, but it actually isn't, and that's why I want to lead a healthier life.

   

  Perry said that he hopes to completely quit the habit by World No Tobacco Day on May 31 and has even become the ambassador for the campaign's website.

  
   
  Source: Digital Spy, 25 May 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/ljPYiX