The headline 'Clock ticking over tobacco packs' appeared in several newspapers last week.
Leaving aside the ludicrous nature of the story ('Almost 80,000 children have taken up smoking while health officials have considered whether or not to introduce plain packs for cigarettes, campaigners have said'), I can report that the clock is ticking in other ways.
Last month I reported that, speaking to the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee, Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies told MPs that "early indications" suggested that the introduction of plain packaging in Australia had already been successful in reducing consumption of cigarettes.
Pressed for evidence, Dame Sally told the committee that she had got the information from the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health of Australia with whom she had had dinner that week.
"I didn't claim it as evidence," she protested. "I said there was early evidence, she [the Permanent Secretary] said, that the purchasing [of cigarettes] looked as if it was responding [to plain packaging]. I am only reporting to you what I have understood as early evidence."
It seemed a little odd that the Chief Medical Officer would pass on to MPs anecdotal evidence provided by a third party with a clear vested interest in the matter, so my colleague Angela Harbutt wrote to Dame Sally asking for clarification, including the source of the Permanent Secretary's evidence.
The letter was sent first class to the CMO's office at the Department of Health on Friday January 25. It should have arrived on Monday January 28, three weeks ago. To date we have received neither a reply nor even an acknowledgement.
Misinforming a House of Commons committee is a serious matter. The clock is ticking as we wait for Dame Sally's reply.