Meeting of the Parliament 14 September 2023
I am pleased to contribute to the debate. I congratulate Gillian Mackay on securing the debate and acknowledge her work in this area.
Many members here in the chamber know that I am happy to work alongside my colleague Emma Harper as co-convener of the cross-party group on lung health, and it is my privilege to continue my role as the parliamentary smoking cessation champion for Asthma + Lung UK.
Vapes, especially single-use disposable vapes, are a ticking time bomb and one of the biggest challenges that we face, which is in no small part due to the age and demographic of those who manufacturers are unashamedly and scandalously targeting.
As Gillian Mackay’s motion recognises,
“in the year ending January 2023, there were ... an estimated 543,000 vapers in Scotland, of which, 9% were under 16 and 14% were under 18”.
Those figures will only get worse unless something dramatic is done.
In the past few months, the Local Government Association in England reported that, for the first time, its members have called for single-use vapes to be banned on environmental and health grounds. The LGA also points out that single-use vapes are designed as a unit and that their batteries cannot be separated from the plastic, making it almost impossible to recycle them without special treatment. The lithium batteries inside the plastic cases can increase sharply in temperature, as we have already heard, becoming flammable, which is a major concern. They cost the taxpayer millions of pounds in damage to equipment and for the specialist treatment that is needed to deal with hazardous waste.
Research by the non-profit organisation, Material Focus, has shown that up to 5 million single-use vape units are being thrown away in the United Kingdom every year. That is more than four times the figure for 2022. It amounts to eight vapes a second being discarded, with the lithium in the products being enough to create around 5,000 electric car batteries a year. Those are frightening statistics.
I also echo the extreme concerns of groups such as the Scotland wing of Asthma + Lung UK and ASH Scotland, as well as parents, carers and teachers regarding the impact that vaping is having on children and young people. We know from the reports that we have seen and the campaigns that are being conducted how harmful it is becoming.
The phenomenon is deeply worrying, and it is being primarily targeted at young people and children. It appears to be fashionable at the moment and the display of that behaviour is encouraging peer groups to think that vaping is good and cool when it is anything but. We need to manage that situation and challenge it.
Anti-smoking groups and charities, as well as medical professionals, are now especially concerned about vaping. The designs and flavours of products, particularly those with fruity, bubble gum or ice flavours, appear to attract children. Those flavours and how the products are packaged are an attempt to encourage young people to vape. They are often sold at checkouts, which is similar to what happened with sweets and confectionery, and retailers will have to take a strong view on that. Strict new measures to regulate the display and marketing of vapes, such as those that are in place to deal with tobacco, are needed now.
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