 The final item of business is a member's business debate on motion 7290, in the name of Siobhan Brown, on concern regarding youth vaping. The debate will be concluded without any questions being put, and I would ask those members who would wish to speak in the debate to please press the request to speak buttons. I call on Siobhan Brown to open the debate around seven minutes, please, Ms Brown. Let me begin by thanking everybody who supported this motion and for taking part in the debate this evening. I'm really looking forward to all contributions. I put forward this motion for a member's debate as a mother and as an elected representative with a genuine deep concern at the moment of our children who are vaping. I believe as elected representatives we have a moral duty to protect constituents where we can, and I believe that our children and our young vaping is one of the biggest health risks our youth currently face. In the past decade also vaping has grown significantly as an alternative option to smoking traditional cigarettes. There is a mindset that vaping and smoking electronic cigarettes is safer, and we know it is cheaper, and do not get me wrong. If vaping is a pathway for somebody to give up smoking, great, I'm fully supportive of it. But my issue is our children who have never smoked and who are taking up vaping as it is deemed safer than cigarettes, and in my humble opinion the marketing and advertising of vaping products I believe is targeted right at this generation. Eighteen months ago at my local supermarket there were chocolate coated nuts and snacks at the till. Now there's colourful flavoured vapes. In another local supermarket in the health aisle there is a huge display of colourful flavoured vapes which has just appeared, and at the till at pound shops there are vapes. They are advertised everywhere. So a packet of cigarettes, 20 cigarettes, is currently around 12 pounds. I can get a vape for 4 pounds, which is 600 puffs, which could be the equivalent of 45 cigarettes. These vapes come in a wide selection of colours and flavours, and I'm told some teenagers co-ordinate their outfits with the colours of the vapes. There are thousands of flavours online, but just a few flavoured vapes are watermelon, sweet cherry, banana ice, cherry cola and blueberry. There are too many to name in this debate, but if we'd had cigarettes in these flavours 50 years ago, how popular would they be other than the tobacco taste? But that still hooked previous generations and caused harmful damage, which we now know in hindsight. In the age of the internet, we have the likes of TikTok influencers showcasing their vape collections and teaching young viewers how to do their best vaping tricks. They make it a hobby and something fun, and if anybody is doubting this and any of you have access to TikTok, just do a search on my first vape. Despite it being illegal to sell the devices to under 18, research indicates a steep rise in under age of vaping over the last five years, with a proportion of 16 to 18-year-olds who say they use e-cigarettes doubling in the past 12 months alone, according to Ash Scotland. A new survey published by Asthma in Lung UK just yesterday, conducted by Opinion Matters, shows that from 1,000 responses, 85 per cent are concerned about young people vaping, 83 per cent are concerned by the use of vaping products by children and young people in schools, and 82 per cent out of 1,000 are concerned about the marketing and promotion of vaping products to children and young people. There have been claims that there is no evidence for young people taking up vaping, but we all have eyes, we all see it, ask the teachers, ask the kids, they will tell you exactly how many kids are vaping. In the beginning of 2022, a courier freedom of information request found that children in primary 3 were caught bringing vapes into school in Fife and Dundee, and this is really worrying. I've also heard of primary school children finding use vapes on the ground and picking them up to see how many puffs are left. So vaping is failing you, we do not have an analysis of long-term impact on lungs, and these are adult lungs. Most definitely do not have any analysis on the impact of developing young lungs. The World Health Organization believes that vaping devices are helpful to health and must be regulated. It states that the evidence is clear that the aerosols of the majority of vape products contain toxic chemicals, including nicotine and substances that can cause cancer. Their use is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and lung disorders. Further to this, an article in the British Medical Journal stated that children with asthma who are exposed to second-hand vape at home have 30% increased risk of renasmir attack. The researchers also point out lung disease and, in the worst-case scenario, deaths have been reported in relation to vaping. Vapes are not harmless and, behind the colours and the delicious flavours, there's nicotine. As we know, that's the addictive product. There lies the issue, not only the damage done to lungs of the next generation, but the next generation being lured into nicotine addiction. The problem with vaping and our youth isn't just in Scotland. It is a global concern and we've seen countries around the world take action. Flavours in vapes e-liquids have been banned in Austria and Hungary. Lithuania and Finland have banned all flavours except for tobacco. Denmark has banned all flavours except tobacco and menthol. Menthol flavours' vapes are banned in Estonia and flavours except tobacco have now been banned in the Netherlands as of this month. There are also plans to ban flavours in Spain, Latvia, Slovakia and Ireland. Interestingly, China, the biggest global exporter of vapes, has banned flavours domestically in light of concerns of youth vaping, although they still export flavours around the world. I would like to see flavours banned from disposable vapes, so they're not as attractive to a younger generation. As Minister is already aware, I'm in the process of exploring a member's bill to pursue this. I welcome that the Greens want to see disposable vapes banned. The cabinet secretary has confirmed an environmental assessment on the impact of disposable vapes, but I would ask that serious consideration be given to a health assessment on the impact of a younger generation who are vaping. There are things that we can do to mitigate such as banning disposable vapes or removing the flavours, but that will take time to go through the whole legislative process. This is a crisis of our children's health and we must act now. We don't have time to waste. There are things that the Scottish Government can do now within their legislative power. This is through the Health, Tobacco and Nicotine Care Scotland Act 2016, where ministers have powers to restrict domestic advertising of nicotine vapour products. This would place vapes alongside cigarettes where promotions, flavours, colours and designs are out of view. This is one thing we can do now and be proactive in protecting our kids. Let me conclude by saying this. As a country, we have come so far in tackling smoking. We now have a moral obligation to protect our young people and not to do all the progress that we have made. All across the chamber, regardless of our political colours, we need to come together on this really important issue and do what we can to protect our future generations. Thank you, Ms Brown. I will now move to the backbench speeches. I call Rona Mackayn to be followed by Alexander Stewart up to four minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am pleased to be speaking in this very important debate. I thank my friend and colleague Siobhan Brown for bringing it to the chamber and for her very informative speech. Tonight, we are discussing an issue that, in my view, has three components. Firstly, vapes can be beneficial to adults attempting to quit smoking, and anything that helps to beat a nicotine addiction must be good, although the jury is still out on whether vapes are an entirely safe way of giving up. Secondly, the serious issue of the harm disposable vapes are doing to our parks, rivers and beaches. It is estimated that, every week across the UK, a staggering 1.3 million disposable vapes are polluting our land with single-use plastic and lithium batteries, which incidentally are very hazardous to children and pets. I know that my green colleagues in this Parliament are running a very effective campaign against those, along with the daily record campaign, and the Scottish Government is very supportive of that. The third component is the one that I want to focus on today, which is the subject of today's debate, and it is the harmful effects vaping has on our young people. We know that, over recent years, there has been an alarming rise in the number of children taking up the habit, as Siobhan Brown has expertly articulated. Crucially, vapes are not recommended for non-smokers and cannot be sold to people under 18 years old. However, that has been cynically undermined by an insidious and aggressive marketing campaign. As Siobhan Brown described, there is an extensive range of sweet fruit-flavoured vapes in bright so-called cool packaging designed to get youngsters hooked. Does that remind you of anything? Alcapops perhaps? Children as young as seven have been found with vapes at school. Doctors have warned of the long-term damage to developing lungs. There is also evidence that second-hand vaping increases the risk of bronchial damage in young people. Researching for tonight's debate, I was shocked to discover low-priced hoodies, online backpacks, watches and pens designed to help youth to vape undetected by parents or teachers. Those are the so-called cool products that are clearly targeted at young people. What on earth is going on? Tobacco companies targeting youngsters to buy products that harm them by producing merchants' eyes to entice them? I do not know about you, but I think that parents these days have enough to worry about regarding the protection of their children without global companies weighing in to make money. We know that more and more countries throughout the world are banning youth-targeted vapes as Siobhan has listed them. Our vapes are e-cigarettes. It is a device that allows you to inhale nicotine in a vapour rather than smoke. E-cigarettes do not burn tobacco and do not produce tar or carbon monoxide to the most damaging elements in tobacco smoke. However, so much work has been done globally to try to stop people from starting to smoke, particularly young people. The Scottish Government's smoking ban has been particularly effective in that regard. What can we do about it? Asma and Lung UK Scotland and other organisations call on the Government to restrict in-store displays, advertising and sponsorship, among other measures. Who could argue with that? Despite Scotland's restricted powers over consumer law, there are measures that we can take. I agree with S1 Brown that we should take them immediately. I suggest that we take them before another generation gets hooked on yet another drug. The evidence that vapes are harmful to the young is growing every day. I suspect that, when the full effect of this is known, it may well be too late for too many young people. Thank you, Ms Mackay. I now call Alexander Stewart to be followed by Clare Adamson. Up to four minutes, please, Mr Stewart. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I am very pleased to be able to contribute, and I would like to thank S1 Brown for bringing this important debate to the chamber. As Asma Plush Young, Lung UK Scotland's parliamentary smoking sensation champion and a co-convener of the cross-party group on lung health, the subject is very close to my heart. Indeed, throughout the CPG, I have worked with organisations such as Breatheasy, which support organisations such as Breatheasy Clackman in my region. Working with those groups, as well as with parents and health professionals and cross-party groups, has immensely insight into the harm that we have had with smoking. It is also understood the sheer magnitude of the ticking time bomb that we have in the hands of vaping. That is Scotland's potential next disaster. Scotland is seeking, by default, arguably as a result of clever but cynical marketing, a fast evolving for young groups of individuals to take on vaping. A recent survey from Asma Plush Lung UK showed that many reports of children of primary school age caught using vaping, some as young as six or seven. In September 2022, Dr Jonathan Cotes, the consultant from respiratory and pediatrician, talked to our cross-party group at Lung Health, and he talked about the potential that that could have. The exposure to sick and hand vaping has, when it comes to bronchitis symptoms within young people. Indeed, throughout both the sale of purchase of nicotine pay products under 18s is banned in Scotland, those products are typically still finding their way into the hands of ever-younger individuals and users. Although, rather sadly, it will be the passage of time that will bear to see what the evidence is, we know already that they are not risk-free. Our lungs are only ever designed to intake oxygen from the air that we breathe and flavours are passed by food industries to ensure that they will not be, but they are going to harm young people and individuals for generations to come. Why do we ever allow young users to deal with the difficulties and the harmful chemicals? We have yet to decide and understand the full possibilities of where that takes us. It is simply a marketing tool, and, as has already been discussed, it is being used as an alco-pop with coloured flavours and attracting sweets. You mentioned the flavours that are approved for food. Just because they are approved for food does not mean that they are okay to go into your lungs. Is that correct, Alexander Stewart? I would completely concur with that. It is to say that they are not there for a specific use to be ingested in a certain way. They are there for the food intract, so I agree with you. It is talked about when we are dealing with these attractive sweets that are being looked at and kids are going on this go on, just have a try, peer pressure. We have heard of that, but we know that that happens on a regular basis. As Ash Scotland has talked about in the past, vaping among young people is now becoming a real danger. It talks about the marketing and the use of significant areas to ensure that we do not have that. The whole idea is being normalised to give youngsters the opportunity to see that it is okay, but it certainly is not okay. Young developing lungs and brains are especially vulnerable to harms that could come out of this. It is vitally important that we challenge it and ensure that it is also a huge problem for the environment. We have heard that, previously, the BBC last year, when we talked about batteries, plastics, metals and stainless steel, they all had a massive campaign to ensure that the pandemic gave us the opportunity to ensure that there was a big noise about recycling and how the plastics, but, in conclusion, it is now time to regroup our spotlight on collective efforts to ensure that we put forward with regard to how marketing is dealt with for these NVPs before it is too late, because, certainly before we get to another health environment or another catastrophe, we need to take this seriously. I begin by thanking Siobhan Brown for securing this debate. It is an issue of increasing urgency. According to the BBC for radio 4 programme, all-consuming, the global market for vapes has grown exponentially over the last decade. In the UK, there are now around 4.5 million regular vapes served by nearly 3,000 specialist shops and stores, and a growing number of online retailers, which I will raise some specific concerns about later. We all share concerns over the increasingly aggressive marketing strategies being deployed by vaping companies. As the motion makes clear, many of the products are transparently targeted towards younger people. I make no mistake, that means children at primary school too. Research has shown that the use of nicotine at a young age has various negative impacts on the development of the brain. A Danish study commission by the Council of Health and Disease Prevention notes that the number of children and young people who consume smokeless nicotine products has increased considerably in the past five to ten years. Today, children and young people are exposed to a growing selection of nicotine products, including e-cigarettes, pouches, snuff chains and tobacco, among others. I have been engaged with trading standards officers both locally and at a national level over the issue, and they have presented to the cross-party group on accident prevention and safety awareness. The problems posed by marketing techniques were of frequent concern. In contrast to tobacco, which cannot be openly displayed, it is now packed in a standardised brown packaging. Nicotine vaping products that are openly displayed are usually cheaper and are supplied in a variety of colours and flavours, appealing to young people. From a North Lanarkshire Council perspective, according to trading standards, they have a steady flow of complaints throughout the year, alleging sale of vapes to persons under the age of 18. The trend seems to be more in respect of vapes as opposed to attempted tobacco pouches. The Society of Trading Standards officers in Scotland's Scots pointed to the increasing complexity of the regulatory landscape. When vaping products started to emerge, it was hoped that exclusively they would be used as an effective tool for helping people quit smoking. However, there is a demonstrable shift to marketing strategies that are designed to target young people and those who are non-smokers. Through its research, Scots has received complaints of children as young as 13. Slick promotions, eye-catching displays and greater availability than traditional tobacco products all risk the indoctrination of the generation of young vapers. It is happening before our eyes. To combat it, we have a confused regulatory landscape, uncertain of where those new products sit when it comes to device safety, batteries, environmental consideration, age restrictions and advertising and marketing. In terms of the online availability, trading standards frequently are testing products that have illegal substances in them or have more nicotine in them than is currently required in the UK. It is a very dangerous practice to be buying these. In terms of the environment, those disposable devices should not be put in household waste, they should not be put in a recycling bin, they have lithium-ion batteries and they should be returned to the retailer or disposed of at a local centre. The fact that they are so prevalent in an environment and being discarded by people is a real concern going forward. I thank again Siobhan Brown for her work in this area. The landscape has shifted, and this is the same fight in a different flash-air colour and a sweeter taste. Nonetheless, it is a race that we are behind in and we need to catch up on. I thank again Siobhan for her work in this area. I now call Paul Sweeney to be followed by Kenneth Gibson. Up to four minutes, please, Mr Sweeney. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I'd like to thank by congratulating the member for air for securing this member's debate today and for ensuring that the topic is given the prominence that it deserves in this chamber. I was pleased to sign her motion in this regard. She's not alone in noticing the huge rise in the number of young people who are vaping, and it should be a cause for concern for every one of us. The rise in young people using disposable vapes is clearly an issue, and we are not alone in thinking that it is. Research by Asthma in long UK Scotland shows that 83 per cent of Scots are concerned about the use of vaping products in schools, and 82 per cent are concerned about the marketing of those products, so there is an obligation on us to respond to those concerns. Although I think that there remains some jubiety about the long-term health risks, I do believe that it would be foolish to assume anything other than that they are ultimately bad for young people and for the wider public. As legislators, that is the basis upon which we should determine our public health response. I agree with calls for increased regulation of those products, particularly disposable vapes, given the environmental damage that they cause. However, I remain unconvinced by calls for outright prohibition and a blanket ban. The reason for that is quite simple. I do not think that outright prohibition works to reduce the harm of any so-called vices in society, as we have seen throughout history. Attempts to ban products such as alcohol or drugs completely often lead to a black market on regulated trade dominated by organised crime that often makes the problem worse. That being said, however, I do believe that we have to be more diligent about the regulation of this industry. It seems perverse to me that we have put cigarettes behind shutters and regulate packaging to make cigarettes less attractive, but we allow vapes to be displayed prominently in shop windows in shiny, colourful packages, clearly designed to attract younger people to try them out. Indeed, a constituent sent me an email just yesterday about our store in Glasgow, which has got vapes being advertised alongside slushes and desserts, with the same flavours right next to each other, clearly cynically designed to manipulate young people's consumer habits. Indeed, it reminds me of, I do not know if anyone was a fan of Mad Men, but the pilot episode of Mad Men actually featured an exercise in the 1960s where Lucky Strike was concerned about the reader's digest, first reporting the risks of cancer in cigarettes, and they decided to market it with the brand name. It is toasted to make it sound more benign and less potentially hazardous for consumers. It shows that the deceptive form of marketing and trying to seduce people into thinking that it is a benign product, whether it is cigarettes or potentially vapes, has been long characteristic of the tobacco industry and similar vendors. If the health risks are deemed to be similar, the regulation and policy response must surely be equally stringent. That is something that I would like to see the Government explore when considering a response to this growing problem. When dealing with increased regulation, we also need to consider what sanctions can be utilised when dealing with those who are caught selling these products to under-18s. Anecdotally, it seems easier for young people under the age of 18 to get a hold of vaping products and it does to get a hold of cigarettes. We have to look at why that is the case. Clearly, the regulations introduced by the Government in April 2017 are proving to be ineffective in that regard. I for one would be in favour of tougher sanctions on shopkeepers to ensure that they are suitably deterred from illegally trading these products. As I said earlier, in addition to the potential health risks, there is also an environmental concern when it comes to the prevalence of disposable vapes. I think that those concerns of merit and labour would support the Government's position and principle on a ban on disposable vape products. I would hope that further study would perhaps show that it would result in levels of youth vaping being reduced. As I said earlier, outright bans are something that I am generally skeptical of, but I think that it is worthwhile to try and carry out an exercise to see if we can reduce those harms. At the very least, we need to make these products less significantly less attractive to young people, and we need to deal with the environmental impact of their use. If a ban is not appropriate, we should consider whether a return scheme of some description can be rapidly introduced in order to minimise the impact of their use on the environment. I think that we clearly have a problem in our hands and the policy response that will need to be multifasted but also measured. Taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut to the issue will not solve it. This is the perfect example where we as legislators need to know our limits, but in the long term I hope that, although we might not look at an outright ban, regulations of their kind that we have discussed today may well exert a more positive influence on consumer behaviour to reduce public health risks and the environmental harms that we are seeing today. I congratulate my colleague Siobhan Brown on securing debating time on this important matter. With sweet flavours, colourful packaging and low prices, it is no wonder that vapes are considered a pocket money-friendly product by teenagers. A cohort vape manufacturers are obviously keen to attract. A 2022 report from Action on Smoking in Health Scotland revealed that 16 per cent of 11 to 17-year-olds have tried vaping and of those 40 per cent have never smoked. Although vapes usage is considered to be much less harmful than smoking, the long-term effects are still unknown and we have all heard already in the debate their severe impact on the environment. Some vapes include toxic chemicals, have not been safely tested for inhalation and therefore health experts warn of serious concerns as to how their usage could damage health over time. We regularly use can impact of spiritual health with young people using vapes twice as likely to suffer from a chronic cough than non-users. Vaping can also reduce lung function due to the disturbance of gases exchange and tissue inflammation. Popular disposable vapes often contain the maximum permitted nicotine strength of 20 milligrams per milliliter. That is equivalent, as we have heard from Siobhan, of around 45 cigarettes. Young people who use vapes are at a much higher risk of nicotine addiction and three times more likely to start smoking tobacco than if they did not vape. Smoking is the direct cause of 16 per cent of all deaths in Scotland. Regular nicotine use can itself have detrimental health effects as teenagers are more vulnerable to dependency than adults. Chronic nicotine exposure can impact brain development, contributing to cognitive and attention deficit conditions and worsening users' mental health. Whilst the NHS recommends adult smokers switched to vaping to quit, health experts are concerned that vapes are a gateway to young people smoking. Ashes highlighted that 55.8 per cent of children are aware of single-use vape promotion on social media, promally on TikTok and Instagram. That encourages young people to try vaping instead of it being a means to quit smoking for older smokers. Across the UK, disposable vape sales grew an astonishing 883 per cent between May 2021 and May 2022, which Ash put down to these harmful promotions. Whilst illegal to sell vapes under 18, social media carries posts on teenagers showing the news vapes and discussing flavours. Over 500 flavours are available, including pink lemonade, blueberry and watermelon. Stores commonly promote their so-called must-try flavours, and online forums offer recommendations with no age restrictions in place to access the content. Upon the banning of menthol cigarettes across Europe in 2020, 65.7 per cent of young adult menthol smokers said that they would quit smoking. That highlights a strong link between attractive flavours and teenage smoking. Therefore, banning flavoured vapes could significantly reduce teen usage. The colourful packaging entices children and young people into purtsing the products, with 82 per cent of Scots believing that this marketing is aimed at young people. Research suggests that banning cigarettes in shops has reduced the likelihood of young people purtsing cigarettes by 15 per cent. Given the appeal created by vape packaging, it is essential that we extend the legislation to include vaping products. The most popular single-use vapes cost around £5 and can often be found on special offer. Smoking cigarettes cost more than two and a half times as much, increasing vape affordability to children and young people by comparison. A welcome way chose his recent decision to ban the sale of single-use vaping products, despite ensuring that all staff strictly follow the challenge 25 policy when selling all age-restricted products, waiters recognise the risk that these products pose to young people, especially those who have not previously smoked. I urge other supermarkets to recognise the impact that sale of these products is having on teen vapers. It is important to highlight the concerns voiced today relative to the necessary update of vaping by young people. Despite concerned around youth vaping, it is essential that NHS Scotland continues to encourage smokers planning to quit to switch to vapes. Although their long-term effects are unknown, stopping smoking will bring immediate health benefits and vapes have been proven to be an effective method of reducing tobacco dependency for smokers. Although vaping may be safer for adults and cigarettes, children and young people should be discouraged from using them. Following the success of legislation implemented to reduce smoking in Scotland, the urge of Scottish Government to extend legislation to discourage children and young people from vaping, prohibiting vape displays and shops and banning myriad flavours on offer, is essential, given the number of youths taking up vaping, unknown health risks that this poses and irresponsible marketing of the products in shops and online. I once again thank Siobhan Brown for bringing this debate to the chamber. I now call Julian Mackay to be followed by Stephanie Callaghan up to four minutes. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I want to congratulate Siobhan Brown for securing time for this really important debate. I want to thank all those who have been campaigning on this issue, particularly Leswace Laura, Ash Scotland and Asma in Lung, UK. The explosion in use and popularity of single-use vapes, particularly among young people, is multifaceted and difficult to tackle. I was pleased in response to my question that the Scottish Government committed to exploring a ban on single-use vapes. I share the concerns that Siobhan Brown and others have raised around those age-restricted products being marketed and sold to children. As the Asma and Lung, UK Lung health champion for young people, I believe that we need to involve young people in those conversations. I hope that, in the coming months, I will be able to work with the Scottish Youth Parliament and others to get their views. Dundee City Council recently reported that 62 per cent of sites visited sold vapes to a test purchaser who was under 18. That is a real issue for councils, but I should stress that that is not restricted to Dundee. For those who have repeatedly flouted the rules, they could be banned from selling vapes in tobacco for up to a period of 24 months. I know that some of my councillors have raised issues about how to deal with the large number of retailers selling vapes and the compliance issues that that causes. In addition to that, if any of us wanted to right now, we could order via JustEats, UberEats or any of those other platforms vapes directly to that building. Those delivering the product are supposed to check age at delivery, but how many are? While test purchasing from stores is a well-trodden path, that is an even more difficult area for councils to gauge. The flavours of vapes are also of concern to many parents who believe that they are being targeted at children. We are hearing anecdotally of large numbers of children and young people taking up vaping who probably would not have smoked. That is partly due to the appeal of the flavours, the disposable nature and the ease of getting them. We must ensure that advertising of those to children is restricted. Some of the ways that children may be exposed to those, as with some issues that were seen with alcohol or a reserved matter, but I hope that the UK Government may take action on that and ensure that children do not have age-restricted products advertised to them. I believe that this advertising should extend to stores and I am pleased that so many others across the chamber believe that. Just before Christmas, I wrote to some major retailers asking them to treat vaping products in the same way as cigarettes are treated. I was disappointed at the response that I received if indeed I received a response at all. Many of those retailers were very proud when they removed sweets and other less healthy products from till lines, mainly to improve the health of the population. I do not understand why that does not extend to the prominent placement of other health harming products in stores. Some of those are not only in prominent places, but some could be reached and picked up by children. I hope that in the coming weeks we will see a change of heart from the big supermarkets and other major chain retailers and put them behind cover. The strength of some of those vapes, as we have heard as astounding too, is some single-use vapes containing as much nicotine as 40 cigarettes. Those vaping are being exposed to far higher levels of nicotine than they may realise. The environmental issues around those are important too, as I am sure that many in the chamber are aware of the number of those littering our streets and parks is growing, and Siobhan Brown highlighted that some are picking those up to see what they have left in them. That, undoubtedly, is also a public health concern. We have heard from others about how difficult those are to dispose of, let alone recycle. The lithium batteries in them are an explosion risk, if disposed of incorrectly. Retailers who sell those, as Clare Adamson said, should be taking them back. We need to make people more aware of the appropriate ways to dispose of those and make sure that they are banned in the long term. In conclusion, I want to congratulate again Siobhan Brown for securing time for this issue and hope that across the chamber we can work together to tackle this issue. Thank you, Ms Mackay. I now call Stephanie Callaghan to be followed by Brian Whittle up to four minutes, please, Ms Callaghan. Thank you to Siobhan Brown for bringing this debate to the chamber and for all the work that she has been doing on that issue for quite a period of time now. There have been some really great speakers covering all the main points tonight, sales and advertising, flavours, recent reports and statistics, and environmental impacts, as well as health. I will keep my contribution quite short. However, I want to speak tonight because I admit it that I am a vapour. Quite a lot of people know that already. I have vaped for several years. My mum is always on at me to stop, and I really hope that I will one day, but it is not right now. However, after smoking cigarettes for 30 plus years, I am massively relieved that I now rape instead of smoking. Given up the fags, it is probably the best thing that I have done for myself. I used to lie awake at night worrying that I did not want to die and not see my children growing up or meet my own grandkids. I think that cigarettes kill something that we all know. My dad died of lung cancer back in 2020. His dad, Magranda, was also a smoker, and he died of lung cancer relatively young. My mum was a smoker, but she stopped decades ago. She is COPD, and that is likely from the fags as well. Vaping is a route to stop smoking for many. It is a really valuable one, and I am not sure that I could have stopped otherwise, and I am certainly not alone in that. However, while quitting smoking is one of the best things that I have ever done in vaping helped me to get there, as a parent I am seriously worried about the sharp rise in young people regularly using vapes. The main point that I want to labour tonight is this. While vaping is a valuable tool to stop smoking, marketing recreational single use vapes to young people who have never smoked is an entirely different issue. We must not conflate the two. While evidence shows that vapes are less harmful than tobacco, we do not yet know the long-term health harms of breathing, vape liquids and air lungs. Frankly, it is high time that we get rid of the rainbow displays of vape bars with every flavour under the sun, and I fully support the suggestions that have been made by other members tonight. Is vaping less dangerous than smoking? The evidence tells us yes. How safe or harmful is vaping? In truth, we really do not know, but it is common sense that breathing those substances in air lungs is not a good thing, and that is why I am hoping that I will at some point stop. Less bad than smoking does not equal good. That is why I believe that urgent action is needed to protect our young people and to avoid a new generation of nicotine addicts. I will finish with a question. Who benefits from creating a new generation of nicotine addicts? I think that we all know what the answer is. Before I call the next speaker, I would advise members that, due to the number of members who wish to speak in this debate, I am minded to accept a motion without notice under rule 8.14.3 to extend the debate by up to 30 minutes. I now invite Svon Brown to move a motion without notice. Thank you, Ms Brown. The question is that the debate be extended by up to 30 minutes. Are we all agreed? We are agreed. Therefore, I now call Brian Whittle to be followed by Pauline McNeill up to four minutes, please, Mr Whittle. I thank Svon Brown for bringing this debate to the chamber. I think that given the length of the debate and the number of people that want to speak in the debate, it is an issue that is one of real concern, and it is one that I have spoken about before. It does not seem that long ago that vaping companies were lobbying me in meetings in my office to support them. It was a great surprise to them that I was very strongly against their universal access. They thought that I would support them because they were being marketed as a tool to quit smoking, which is the one area that I would support their use. I was very interested to hear Stephanie Callaghan talk about her experiences, but I would particularly support it as a medical intervention recommended by medical professionals. I will remember asking one particular vaping company who owns the company. Of course, I knew that it was a tobacco company, so the question that I put to them was, are you really suggesting that tobacco companies are producing these products to help their customers stop using their products and put themselves out of business? By that logic, once they have helped every smoker to quit, there would be no need for any of their products. If they are solely for smoking cessation, why are there so many flavours and additives to draw on the users and potential users? I informed them that I was not gullible. Everything that I was concerned about back then has manifested itself in the ensum. I have a daughter in secondary school and I am shocked at the level of vaping activity among pupils. There seems to be anecdotal evidence that as much as half of the student population has tried or is regularly using vaping products. Moreover, there is a whole micro-industry with the students around buying and selling of these products and schools evidence the quantity of products confiscated daily by the campus policemen. Moreover, and most significantly to me, the level of students smoking tobacco or marijuana or even worse remains high and is climbing. Vaping is a door to addiction and a step towards using these more harmful products instead of their marketing and marketed use of smoking cessation. In Siobhan's bound motion, she states a very important point. Vaping is not without harm. A harm that is yet to be properly quantified in my fear is that we are just storing up a health crisis for the next generation. Inhaling foreign particles into our lungs cannot be anything but harmful on some level. It is so blindingly obvious. We need to regulate the use of vapes much more effectively and keep them out of the hands of schoolchildren. The marketing budgets of tobacco firms are being used to entice entirely new users into their usage and then on to even more harmful products. Their use is a habit as well as a social statement to those who use them. Pair pressure is a key driver and, after all, it is not really smoking, is it? All those wonderful flavours, bubblegum flavour for goodness sake, yes, that is really aimed at adults wanting to quit. No, Deputy Presiding Officer. It is too easy for pupils to be drawn in and then making the next step to the next level of substance abuse. I agree that there is a place for vapes in the drive to help smoking cessation. However, put them on prescription for my health professional or at the very least make the penalties for selling to underage pupils so high as to become not worth the risk. We need to take this issue extremely seriously before we have another health crisis in our hand. I thank once again Siobhan Brown for giving us the opportunity to raise this in the strongest possible way and urge our Governments to take the appropriate urgent action to get these products out the hands of our children, Deputy Presiding Officer. Thank you, Mr Whittle. I now call Pauline McNeill to be followed by Emma Harper up to four minutes, please, Ms McNeill. Thank you to Siobhan Brown for an excellent speech that really is the speech that I wanted to hear because I did disagree with a single word of it and the excellent speech is there after. Concern for children is my concern, too. Like Brian Whittle, I am worried about the risk of vaping among children and young teenagers, not because I know a great deal about it, but because anecdotal evidence has suggested to me that this is much wider spread than we possibly thought. I have laid a few questions to demonstrate my interests, so I am delighted to be joining this debate this evening. It has taken decades of public health campaigns that I know Kenny Gibson has been key involved in over the years to reduce the number of young people in Scotland smoking, and just as improved behaviours are becoming established, vapes have come along and they seem to be capturing a new generation of users. The World Health Organization suggests that children and adolescents who start vaping are three times more likely to take up smoking. There is limited data. Siobhan Brown has mentioned this, which has asked Scotland's research shown that 17 per cent of 13-year-olds and 35 per cent of 15-year-olds have used a vape at some point, but I do agree with Paul Spinney, Brian Whittle and others. I think that it is much wider than this. Current evidence suggests that vaping is less harmful to a person's health than smoking, but recent studies indicate that there are still health-harming products that damage the heart lungs, as well as causing gum disease, tooth decay and headaches. Again, Stephanie Callaghan makes the point really well. It is my point, too, which is that it is an important route to stop smoking, but the focus of the debate is, first of all, the safety of children. To increase the likelihood of users going on to smoke, that is why I think that I am really concerned, as we all are, in fact. As we refer, some of those products contain nicotine, which is addictive. Research has shown that nicotine can have a detrimental impact on brain development and increase a young person's risk of future substance abuse. Asma and Lungukie Scotland conducted opinion matters on 1,000 adults revealed that over three quarters of people in Scotland are concerned about the use of vapes in schools, so it is a real issue. Earlier this month, the Daily Record launched a new campaign to ban disposals. The advice is the mid fears that are turned out in our streets into plastic dumping ground that is also mentioned by other members, so there seems to be a consensus here that we need to look at banning those two for environmental reasons. Having been involved in the early parliaments about the ban on smoking in public places, we have seen the impact that that has had. What was the point of this world-leading legislation if coming behind it is a market aimed at young people with one thing in mind, which is to create a market for young people who will then go on to be smoking after they give up vapes. I am surmising that, but I think that that is what we all think is the case, which is why we must do all we can. I am notwithstanding the point that Paul Sweeney also makes well, which is what approach to take with the young people. I guess the minister will address this. If you say that it is banned or that you do something that they want to rebel against, we need to thank you for how we are going to do this and explain to young people that all your friends are doing it. It seems to be the thing to do at school, but it is in your long-term health interest not to do so. I congratulate my colleague Siobhan Brown on securing this debate. I know that the member is doing much work on youth vaping. Siobhan Brown has laid out perfectly, as Pauline McNeill has described, the issues around youth vaping. I also want to thank Asman Lung UK in Scotland and Ash Scotland for their briefings ahead of the debate, and I also thank them for their work to improve lung health or respiratory health in Scotland. The debate is about youth vaping, and I am the co-convener of the Lung Health Cross-Party Group and a registered nurse, so I am interested in the impact of vaping on lung health, especially with the very serious health concerns that have been expressed by medical experts and have been echoed around the chamber this evening. I have made loads of amendments and scribbles out of some of my contribution because colleagues have covered info already, but it is worth repeating that nicotine is the primary addictive component of tobacco cigarettes and that vapes do not burn tobacco and do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, which are two of the most damaging elements to health in tobacco smoke. We know that e-cigarette use can have negative effects on respiratory health, and the nicotine in the e-cigarettes and vapes is one of my main concerns. Research has shown that young people using e-cigarettes are twice as likely to suffer from a chronic cough than non-users. Of course I will. Brian Whittle? I am very grateful for Emma Harper for taking intervention. I know that there has not been enough research done into it, but isn't it just logic that inhaling foreign bodies into your lungs has to be harmful? Emma Harper? There is one more answer to that, and that is yes. I think that any substance that you take into your lungs that is meant for food colouring as it came up earlier is something that we absolutely should be doing research about and we should be paying attention to. Kenneth Gibson spoke about the disturbance of gas exchange in the lungs and lung inflammation, but it is worth repeating that. Lung damage due to vaping is referred as e-cigarette or vaping associated lung injury, i valley. A public health investigation in Illinois and Wisconsin in the US found the median age of the patients that were suffering from this e-valley was 21 years old, but we have heard from colleagues across the chamber that younger people are even vaping now. Despite what the industry may say, nicotine can have detrimental health effects, so we know that adolescents are more vulnerable to nicotine dependency than adults. Chronic nicotine exposure can impact brain development, and that has been mentioned already, but it is worth repeating. Our lung health cross-party group that Alexander Stewart and I co-convened together, we had a respiratory physician called Dr Jonathan Coots, who is a paediatric respiratory physician, present us evidence of his research about nicotine on child brain development. I refer members to the recording of the meeting. It is in the Lung Health CPG September minutes on the Parli website. The impact on brain development that was presented can contribute to cognitive and attention deficit conditions and worsen mood disorders, and that is pretty shocking. We have also heard about the effects on mental health as well. In addition to the health impact of vaping, particularly on young people, I am concerned about the way in which vaping and the tobacco industry is targeting young people, as others have described. I will skip to the end and basically ask the Government what we can do to look at tightening rules on advertising and promoting the vaping products. It really is a concern that these big bright colours are front and centre in our retail outlets and our supermarkets. I would again thank Siobhan Brown for bringing the debate to the chamber and sharing the concerns that have been raised by everybody across the chamber about the health impacts of vaping for our young people in Scotland. I thank Siobhan Brown for lodging her motion for debate, providing a very timely opportunity to discuss the phenomenal growth in vaping that has left her understanding and regulation of e-cigarettes behind her. The great vape debate is often are e-cigarettes saving smokers or are they creating new addicts? I suspect that the answer is probably both. Lung disease remains that the third largest killer in Scotland, with smoking still the biggest cause. Smoking rates in Scotland have, however, seen some welcome decrease from 28 per cent of adults in 2003 to 11 per cent in 2021, often thanks to policy interventions such as the ban on smoking in public places that Pauline McNeill mentioned. Given that vaping appears less harmful than smoking, albeit that is not a high bar, e-cigarettes have been seen as a useful tool for those who wish to quit smoking tobacco. However, it is also clear that vaping is far from risk-free. We do not fully understand, as a number of members have mentioned, that the long-term health effects, but recent studies have suggested that e-cigarettes can impact heart and lung health. Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is addictive. The sharp increase in the proportion of e-cigarette users who have never smoked before should concern as all. Although there is still limited data on what proportion are young people, Ash Scotland found that the number of 11 to 17-year-olds who have tried vaping has risen from 15.8 per cent compared to 11.2 per cent in 2021. Those are trends that cannot be allowed to continue largely unchecked. Even though legally a person has to be over 18 to purchase e-cigarettes, it is clear that the brightly-coloured and fruit-flavoured vapes are absolutely marketing in a way to attract, in fact, ruthlessly target young people often on social media platforms. They are also considerably cheaper than cigarettes, according to Ash Scotland. The monthly cost of e-liquids is around £56, compared to the £250 per month that average cigarette smoker would spend, and they are also far more readily available. It is therefore understandable that there are widespread calls for action as many long UK Scotland have urged the Government to fully enact the remaining regulations from the Health, Tobacco, Nicotine and Care Scotland Act 2016 to restrict the marketing and promotion of vaping products, particularly to children and young people. I hope that that is what the Government's recent consultation on this ultimately delivers. Presiding Officer, along with the health concerns surrounding e-cigarettes, the toxic and single-use plastic waste caused by disposable vapes has also become a deep concern, and one that I want to focus the rest of my comments on. I had a privilege of meeting an environmental campaigner, Laura Young, who has led the way in seeking action to tackle the environmental impact of disposable vapes, collecting many hundreds herself off her streets. It is a blight that is crept up on us but one that is growing at a pace. Against research by material focus, at least 1.3 million disposable vapes are thrown away every week in the UK. That conservative estimate is two every second. The equivalent of 22 football pitches of plastic litter, but less than a third, are recycled. The lucrative vaping market as a whole in the UK is worth more than £1 billion a year, and more than half of children who vape say that disposable vapes are their preferred product. As well as targeting those young people that industry is failing to take any responsibility for collecting and recycling their product, and ultimately it is not realistic to think that the majority of users of disposable vapes are going to collect them up and take them to their nearest recycling centre. Scotland's ban on single-use plastics became fully effective in August 2022, but it is clearly a loophole in the failure to include disposable vapes that are largely made of plastic. I welcome that the Government has now commissioned a review into the environmental impacts and management of disposable vapes that could potentially lead to a ban on the product. However, if we are being honest, I do not think that we need a review to tell us that there are already alternatives out there and disposable vapes are clearly an unnecessary evil that could and should be banned. The Scottish Government's up-and-coming circular economy bill is a prime opportunity to deliver that, so I would strongly urge the Government to take that opportunity and get on with ending the sale of disposable vapes in our shops. I now call on Marie Todd to respond to the debate up to seven minutes. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I would like to thank Siobhan Brown for lodging this motion and to offer my thanks to all the members across the chamber who have taken part in discussing what we can all agree is a very important issue. I welcome the opportunity to respond on behalf of the Government. The Scottish Government has a clear policy on vaping products. They are one of a range of possible smoking cessation tools, but they are not a lifestyle accessory for young people or, indeed, adult non-smokers. I want to commend Stephanie Callaghan for her honest contribution, and I am absolutely delighted that she stopped smoking. It really is one of the best things that you can do for your health, but I have to be clear that, although vaping is one of the tools available to aid smoking cessation, we do not yet fully understand the long-term effects that it has on our health, and we therefore need to be cautious. I very much appreciate that line and will recycle it plenty. Less bad than smoking is not good. The evidence base is growing and something that we are continually monitoring. The World Health Organization has said that vaping devices are undoubtedly harmful to health and should be strictly regulated. Professor Anne McNeill from King's College London led the evidence review on vaping for the UK Government and specialises in tobacco addiction. She said that vaping is very unlikely to be risk-free. We strongly discourage anyone who has never smoked from taking up vaping or smoking. I echo her view. We just do not take it up. We already have strict legislation on the sale of tobacco and vaping products in Scotland. All retailers must be registered and sales are restricted to those aged 18 and over. However, the very fact that we are discussing this issue here tonight highlights that there is work to be done to protect young people and to ensure that they are not able to access these products, whether that is through purchasing them themselves or being supplied them by others. Both are illegal and it is just not acceptable in a modern-day Scotland where we want to see a generation of young people grow up free from tobacco and nicotine addiction. I am very grateful to the minister to give way. Surely what we should be looking to do here is make it as difficult as possible for our youth to get a hold of these products and punish those who supply underage as harshly as we possibly can. We are certainly working very closely with trading standards to understand what key improvements could be made within Scotland to stamp out these illegal sales. It is also something that I plan to raise with the Minister for Public Health and the UK Government. What can we do collectively, along with the other devolved Governments, to stop this growing trend? That includes looking to see where we can be much stronger around issues such as flavouring, which we know is a significant draw for younger people. Kenny Gibson is absolutely right to highlight the evidence of a link between mental flavour and smoking in teens. I am absolutely horrified when I see and hear about the range of flavourings available and how these devices are being marketed to directly appeal to our children and young people. Members may also be aware that the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity has commissioned an urgent review of the environmental impacts of disposable vapes. As a number of members said, as well as being a form of single-use plastic, they contain batteries that are particularly toxic to our environment. I look forward to the results of this review. A ban is one possible outcome and an outcome that I would welcome, both from an environmental and a public health point of view. Siobhan Brown and others raised a really important point about nicotine addiction. I hear the concerns about the impact of nicotine on brain health. I hear the concerns about lung health. I hear about the link to taking up smoking, as highlighted by the World Health Organization, but I think that all of us here need to be concerned about the way that this formulation, like smoking—remember, I am a pharmacist—indulge me. This particular formulation, like smoking, is highly addictive. The drug nicotine gets very speedily and in good concentration into the bloodstream across the blood-brain barrier to the site of action. It gives you a hit. Those are uniquely addictive products. We all know that smoking tobacco is a consequence and a cause of health inequalities. Getting children becoming addicted to those products at a very young age means a lifetime of sales for the company's marketing them and a lifetime of impact on their spending power on other issues. It is just frightening. The long-term goal is to create a Scotland where everyone can flourish, with improved health and to reduce health inequalities, ensuring that young people are not growing up addicted to vapes, addicted to nicotine, with all the health and economic harms that that brings is acutely important within that goal. Within autumn this year, we are going to publish a refreshed tobacco action plan that will renew our commitment to achieving the 2034 target, lowering smoking rates in our communities to below 5 per cent. We want children born since 2013 to be free from tobacco so that, when they turn 21, they will be tobacco-free and they will come of age in a Scotland that will remain tobacco-free for generations to come. Note that we have a tobacco-free target in Scotland, not a smoke-free target. I thank the minister for taking that intervention. She recognised the impact that the tobacco industry has on this. Will she join calls that I have made to retailers to consider putting these behind cover where they cannot be seen by children and young people to reduce that impact as well? Absolutely. We are considering all of those things. We started to take action. Last year, we consulted on restrictions on the advertising and promotion of vaping products, and those are aimed at reducing the visibility of vapes to children, young people and adult non-smokers. Any action that we take will seek to build on the regulations that are already in place to restrict the marketing, promotion and the sale of vaping products to under 18s, and my aim is to bring forward new regulations this year in 2023. We are also working with stakeholders, including Ash Scotland, YoungScot and the Children's Parliament, to help young people to understand that vaping is not risk-free. It is not a lifestyle accessory. It does have consequences. It is important that we hear their voices and understand, as a number of members have said, how to best support them to make more informed choices. Briefly, please, because the minister should be concluding her remarks. I appreciate your very much for my style and indulging me again. Shouldn't we be organising a counter-marketing strategy that gives them a pride in Scotland approach to it that we are trying to be a completely smoke-free country? I think that we need to consider all aspects of how to get to the crux of this problem, but we need to remember that it is a highly addictive product that is being marketed in a way to appeal to young children during the course of their development, and we need to take very stringent measures to tackle that particular risk. It is not just a public health issue, but we clearly need to keep health at the forefront of everything that we do. We need to work across government to maximise opportunities for cross-cutting impact. That might be through action on illegal products, which obviously benefits the economy, addressing environmental concerns or improving education, but by continuing to work together, learning from our recent experiences, building on our successes, I am confident that we can make lasting changes that will positively benefit the health and wellbeing of everyone in Scotland.