Glasgow Shettleston MSP, John Mason, this week used a parliamentary question to raise the issue of e-cigarettes with Scottish Ministers.
Questioning Public Health Minister, Michael Matheson, the East End MSP raised concerns about the widening availability and increased marketing of e-cigarettes.
Commenting from Holyrood, John Mason MSP said:
“As an MSP who represents a constituency with a relatively poor track record on health, I am very concerned about the growth of e-cigarettes. They can be a helpful way for some people to reduce their smoking levels and I would want to support that.
“However, a lot of good work has been done to try and reduce cigarette use by way of the public smoking ban, bans on advertising, and so on. And I have a concern that the big tobacco companies – who are incredibly powerful – are simply switching their efforts into e-cigarettes. Just on Monday I was buying petrol and there was an advert on top of the petrol pump advertising e-cigarettes. To all intents and purposes it was just as if traditional cigarette advertising was returning.
“The marketing has become incredibly powerful too and even the Forge Shopping Centre behind my own constituency office has a prominent stall which is heavily promoting these e-cigarettes”.