Lisa Cockburn gave a presentation on a pragmatist approach to nicotine addiction, valuing the externally verifiable contributions of both the biological and economic sciences, while also giving weight to qualitative measures and subjective perspectives.Tobacco use is highly politicized, and tobacco harm reduction strategies may at time be more difficult and contentious to advocate than for drugs- the illegal substances. Cockburn explained that as conceptions of tobacco use often see it as either a disease or a moral failing it is seldom investigated what role consumer choice, free will and of the psychological and social benefits gained from smoking play. She elaborated on smoking’s role as relaxation, as smoking gives smokers a legitimate reason to relax, and that welfare encompasses many reasons for smoking. Why people smoke is surprisingly seldom posed question- just pointing at addiction is an oversimplification and encourages stigmatisation. Reducing the issue to a body vs. mind dichotomy is wrong- they are cross working, and doing so may make harm reduction strategies and cessation more difficult for the smokers.

Taxation Commissioner László Kovács recently proposed harmonising minimum taxes on tobacco products to cut down on smuggling and eventually deter smoking through increased prices.

Dunsi Oladele-Rabiu made a presentation on a controversial topic: Smokers' perceptions of benefits of smoking and the implications for tobacco harm reduction

This session was not so much a seminar as an open roundtable discussion including the audience. As at the IHRA 2007 conference in Warsaw it was chaired in a good, open-minded fashion by Danny Kushlick of Transform.

Tomorrow, on July 1st, the Netherlands will follow many other European countries and institute a smoking ban in all cafes, pubs, night clubs, restaurants and hotels. This ban against smoking, however, will not be applied to the so called coffee shops.

Chan Makan from the Association for the Reduction of Tobacco Related Harm of South Africa spoke about public private partnerships.
Alcohol and tobacco abuse are problems in South Africa, and South Africa has been at the forefront in advancing anti-tobacco regulation and legislation and in promoting the tenets of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The speech was to be connected to Katherina Sykes cancelled presentation.

Dr. Karyn Heavner spoke about research made in Canada about the sale of smokeless tobacco, linked to the speech of Dr. Carl V. Phillips.

Campbell Aitken from the Burnet institute in Melbourne discussed a study of use of “chop chop” in Australia.

What challenges does harm reduction face in different parts of the world? Bill Stronach, chief executive of the Australian Drug Association headed the first panel on tobacco harm reduction in Barcelona.

To the great relief for the island of Aland, the threat from the EU on a fine of 2 million€, plus nearly 20,000€ per day, has now been withdrawn. Aland was initially sentenced by the European Commission as Aland did not comply to the directive banning the sale of snus but the Commission says Aland is complying to the directive.