Meeting of the Parliament 31 January 2023 [Draft]
I thank Siobhian Brown for lodging the motion and 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 commend Stephanie Callaghan for her honest contribution and I am absolutely delighted that she has stopped smoking. It is one of the best things that you can do for your health, but I have to be clear that while vaping is one of the tools available to aid smoking cessation, we do not yet fully understand its long-term effects on our health. We need to be cautious. I very much appreciate the line that less bad than smoking does not equal good, and I will recycle it plenty.
The evidence base is growing and we are continually monitoring it. The World Health Organization has said that vaping devices are “undoubtedly harmful” to health and should be “strictly regulated”. Professor Ann 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—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 tonight highlights that there is work to be done to protect young people and ensure that they are not able to access these products, whether that is through purchasing themselves or being supplied them by others. Both are illegal. It is just not acceptable in modern-day Scotland, where we want to see a generation of young people grow up free from tobacco and nicotine addiction.