Plain cigarette packet 'sabotage' claim

A Bristol-based NHS body set up to tackle smoking in the region claims it has been the victim of sabotage in its attempt to bring in plain packaging for cigarettes.

Smokefree South West said it had been inundated by Freedom of Information requests from organisations funded by the tobacco industry.

Andy Rowell, from the University of Bath, said the tobacco industry and its supporters "had a history" of using these kind of requests to undermine and intimidate public health researchers.

Simon Clark from Forest, the Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco, said the allegations were nonsense.