Over breakfast I had already met with colleague Andrea Crossfield where, although we meet regularly in our own country, we finally got together to discuss how we can make the most of a new EU funded project.
I also bumped into someone who lives very close to me but I had not seen. He told me about progress he is making with his new diagnostic tests for bi-products of nicotine. His point of care product is already being distriuted in various countries but I had not heard about it! (For more info [email protected]) I`ll try and catch his presentation later.
Moving to the conference center there was a real buzz as old friendships were renewed and already queues were forming at the bank of laptops where emails could be checked.
The opening ceremony itself was the first opportunity for all delegates (around 600) to meet up and hear about progress made since previous meetings in Helsinki (1996), Gran Canaria (1998) and Poland (2002)
The need for work at local, regional, national and global level was underlined by the 650,000 people dying each year from tobacco caused illnesses.
Although apologies were made about the fact that Switzerland was not yet smoke free it is hoped that the conference would bring forward that possibility.
Next year Switzerland will join Belgium, Romania and UK in having picture warnings on packets of cigarettes.
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