It's World No Tobacco Day today.
Promoted by the World Health Organisation, this annual event is "intended to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption around the globe".
Each year there's a theme. In 2014 it was 'Raise taxes on tobacco'. Last year it was 'Stop illicit trade of tobacco products' which was ironic given that raising taxes on tobacco fuels illicit trade.
This year WHO is calling on "all countries" to 'Get ready for plain packaging'. Brussels, naturally, is a focal point with not one but two events at the European Parliament.
'Plain-packaging to protect our youth: Progress made, challenges ahead' is a half-day conference hosted by the European Respiratory Society (ERS) and the European Network for Smoking Prevention (ENSP).
That's followed, this evening, by a World No Tobacco Day cocktail reception.
The 2016 World No Tobacco Day reception celebrates the entry into force of the Tobacco Products Directive and the possibilities it has created for Member States to introduce plain packaging of tobacco products.
Hosted by Linda McAvan MEP it also features the "announcement and celebration of WHO World No Tobacco Day 2016 Awards" (see previous post).
By coincidence I shall be in Brussels this evening but I have other plans.
In the meantime click here to read an international coalition letter to Dr Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, director of WHO, opposing plain packaging.
It's signed by 47 organisations including Forest.