Chamber and committees

I, too, congratulate my colleague Gillian Mackay on securing what is obviously a hugely important debate, given the number of MSPs who are speaking in it.

I also thank Asthma + Lung UK Scotland, the British Lung Foundation and ASH Scotland for their engagement and very helpful briefings ahead of the debate.

I also need to give a shout out to a couple of people in the youth work department of Dumfries and Galloway Council—Kelly Ross and Mark Molloy. We have met and are starting to work together to highlight and tackle vaping among our young people across Dumfries and Galloway.

As co-convener of the cross-party group on lung health and a registered nurse, I am really interested in the impact of vaping on lung health, especially in the light of the very serious health concerns that medical experts have expressed, but I am also interested in the issue that is raised in Gillian Mackay’s motion—the environmental impact of single-use vapes and the safety of the devices.

I know that we are a bit challenged for time today, so I will just pick up on a couple of points. The materials that are used in disposable vapes make them a potential hazard to humans, wildlife and the environment when they are thrown away, and the lithium that is used for the batteries is a precious metal of which we are already facing a global shortage. In the past year in the UK, more than 10 tonnes of lithium has been thrown out with disposable vapes—enough to make batteries for 1,200 electric cars. If we are to address the climate emergency and enable a green transition, we need to make the best use of scarce materials such as lithium. If disposable vapes were rechargeable, for example, they could be reused up to 300 times, which would drastically reduce the number of vapes that end up in landfill every day.

Vaping can reduce lung function, due to gas-exchange disturbance and inflammation of tissue. In my career as a nurse in the operating room, I have worked laparoscopically on people’s lungs, and I have seen directly the lung damage that is caused by cigarette smoking. We are, however, now starting to see e-cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury—or EVALI. A public health investigation in Illinois and Wisconsin in the United States found that the median age of patients suffering from EVALI was 21—21 years old, Presiding Officer. Despite what the industry might say, nicotine has a detrimental health effect, adolescents are more vulnerable to nicotine dependency than adults are and chronic nicotine exposure can impact on brain development.

At Gillian Mackay’s round-table event on Monday, we heard from Dr Jonathan Coutts, who also presented at a lung health cross-party group meeting that my colleague Alexander Stewart and I attended a few months ago. He presented the facts on the harm that vaping does to young people’s brains. We know that it has an impact on brain development; it can contribute to cognitive and attention-deficit conditions and worsen mood disorders, including depression and suicidal thoughts.

It is a huge issue and it is clear that something needs to be done. For example, one of the statistics that I found is that using one vape is like smoking 52 cigarettes, so clearly we need to be concerned about the matter.

I would like to know from the minister whether the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 will need to be considered if we are proposing changes to regulation, and I would be interested to find out whether there will need to be some kind of exclusion from that act to allow regulations to be taken forward.

In closing—

I am on my last sentence, Presiding Officer. I was just going to thank Gillian Mackay again.

Thank you.

You mentioned the voluntary sector in discussing the complexity of the provision of care. The committee often speaks about the third sector as it relates to social prescribing, for example. How does the Government plan to ensure that third sector agencies are supported and viable, given that they are important to the provision of social care services?

I come back to the national centre for remote and rural healthcare, which will commence next month; I think that an announcement was made on that. My region—South Scotland—is pretty rural and remote all the way down to Stranraer. Where are we with that centre being ready for next month?

I thought that someone else was going to kick off on this topic.

Convener, do I have time for a quick question about palliative care?

One of our themes is how we tackle obesity. I am interested in the issue and have recently asked questions in the chamber regarding ultraprocessed foods and high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt foods. Carlos Monteiro, who is a professor of nutrition and public health in Brazil, has done some great research, and books by Chris Van Tulleken and Henry Dimbleby that talk about ultraprocessed foods have recently been popular. How can we understand more about the relationships between foods, and not just their sugar and fat content? This question is for the minister, because it is in the public health portfolio. I am interested in the powers that are available to us in Scotland in regulation of marketing and sales of those types of foods? Can you give us an update on work that is being taken forward?

Finally, will the Scottish Government’s provision of free school meals for primary-school age children, which it is expanding, help to tackle what is being called an environment of “commerciogenic malnutrition”, because of the way in which big manufacturers are targeting unhealthy choices at young folk? Will widening of access to free school meals by the Scottish Government help to address some of the issues with overweight young people?

I have a final, quick question. You will obviously be aware of the issue around midwifery in Dumfries and Galloway. Will the rural and remote healthcare centre include midwifery approaches?