The independent review into the Buchanan and St Ambrose High School campus at Coatbridge has concluded that the schools are safe and that there is no link between the school campus and illness.

As part of the review, water, soil and air samples from the former landfill site were assessed, along with the integrity of the methane membrane, which was installed as a safety measure during construction of the campus.

The report finds:

·       water samples all pass drinking water quality standards. The review recommends North Lanarkshire Council and Scottish Water should further sample water in the coming months to address some minor quality issues

·       the methane membrane under the school building was installed correctly and no landfill related gases were detected at that time and now

·       fifty soil samples were taken from soft landscaped areas, fifteen from raised beds and tested for various contaminants. The concentrations measured in soils, with the exception of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at one location, are not of concern

·       elevated levels of PCB were found in one sample pit on the periphery of the site. The review recommends North Lanarkshire Council completes a full and independently verified removal of the chemical as soon as possible

·       the review recommends a site recovery group, made up of site users and community leaders, to provide an open and transparent channel for any concerns to be raised regarding the well-being of those on the campus

If the work at that sample pit is being done by North Lanarkshire Council and independently verified to remove any residual risk or to otherwise render the area concerned safe, the review would support the schools opening next week.

Public health consultant Dr Margaret Hannah, who co-led the review, said: “Many people were concerned about possible health risks from the previous use of the campus site. We listened carefully to the concerns of parents and teachers and worked with various experts in their field to determine the areas to test within the campus.

“Our principal finding is that the schools are safe, the site is safe and there is no link between the school and the reported health issues. However, we have made recommendations for some work to be carried out in order to provide further public reassurance.

“One of our recommendations includes convening a site recovery group to provide an open channel to share information and allow any concerns to be raised regarding the well-being of those on the campus. Working together is key to restoring public confidence and we hope our findings will help all the communities in Coatbridge and beyond work towards common goals and in the best interests of the pupils and staff.”

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “I am grateful to the Review Team for their work over the last two months. This has been a complex and challenging set of circumstances to review in such a short timescale.

“The report provides reassurance to parents, pupils and staff of the school that there are no links between ill-health and the campus.

“The review also finds, however, that North Lanarkshire Council and NHS Lanarkshire did not handle this issue at all well. They did not engage with parents sufficiently early or in an inclusive manner. The recommendations will ensure statutory bodies engage far more proactively with parents, staff and pupils to rebuild the trust and learn lessons from this for the future.

“Children should enjoy school life and I hope this is the case for pupils at Buchanan and St Ambrose High Schools.”

Deputy First Minister John Swinney announced on 12 June an independent review into reported health and safety concerns at the campus.

The primary purpose of the review was to examine the evidence of the history, construction and maintenance of the site as well as provide reassurance to the community. 

An artificial "tongue" which can taste subtle differences between whiskies could help tackle the trade in counterfeit alcohol trade, scientists say. 

In a paper published in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s journal Nanoscale, Scottish engineers describe how they built the tiny taster, which exploits the optical properties of gold and aluminium to test the differences between the spirits.

The technology was able to taste the differences between the drinks with greater than 99% accuracy. It was also capable of picking up on the subtler distinctions between the same whisky aged in different barrels and can also tell the difference between whiskies aged for 12, 15 and 18 years. 

Alasdair Clark, of the University of Glasgow's school of engineering, said: "We call this an artificial tongue because it acts similarly to a human tongue – like us, it can't identify the individual chemicals which make coffee taste different to apple juice but it can easily tell the difference between these complex chemical mixtures.

"We're not the first researchers to make an artificial tongue, but we're the first to make a single artificial tongue that uses two different types of nanoscale metal 'tastebuds', which provides more information about the 'taste' of each sample and allows a faster and more accurate response."

“While we’ve focused on whisky in this experiment, the artificial tongue could easily be used to ‘taste’ virtually any liquid, which means it could be used for a wide variety of applications. In addition to its obvious potential for use in identifying counterfeit alcohols, it could be used in food safety testing, quality control, security – really any area where a portable, reusable method of tasting would be useful.”

Researchers poured whisky over a chequerboard pattern of the two metals – which act as "tastebuds" – and researchers then measured how they absorbed light while submerged.

Statistical analysis of the very subtle differences in how the metals in the artificial tongue absorb light – what scientists call their plasmonic resonance – allowed the team to identify different types of whiskies.

The team used the tongue to sample a selection of whiskies from Glenfiddich, Glen Marnoch and Laphroaig.

The research was conducted by engineers and chemists from the universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde. 

Their paper, titled 'Whisky tasting using a bimetallic nanoplasmonic tongue', is published in Nanoscale.

A practical guide to Asian hornets is now available.

Around 2004, the Asian or yellow-legged hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax) was accidentally imported into southern France from China, and it has spread through western European countries with astonishing speed. 

Since 2016 there have been incursions into the UK, including Scotland and these are becoming more frequent as the population on the continent increases in numbers.

If this insect establishes in the UK, it will cause two important problems for humans: they love eating bees, especially honey bees; and if a nest is accidentally disturbed they can be very aggressive.

The handbook is completely up-to-date and covers the biology, spread and control of this insect, including a section on the UK response by Defra via APHA and the National Bee Unit in England.

The handbook is comprehensively referenced, with a glossary and thorough index, and has over 100 photos and illustrations. It is 156 pages, paperback.

It can be bought from the handbook’s website at a price of £16.  

A BBC documentary examines the events surrounding the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) meat scandal and asks if we are still living with the aftermath in the form of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), which has killed almost 200 people since 1996. 

Mad Cow Disease: The Great British Beef Scandal looks at how this still incurable and entirely manmade disease came to be a problem. The documentary also looks at how a series of poor decisions failed to stop the infected cattle getting into the food chain.

Since 1996, almost 200 people have died from vCJD, whilst the cattle disease BSE has been responsible for the death of over four million cows. It has cost the NHS over a billion pounds and virtually destroyed the British beef industry in the 1990s.

The story starts in the 1970s, when supermarkets were emerging into the high streets and meat consumption was going through the roof. To help keep up with demand, farmers started feeding cows an artificial protein supplement made from the remains of other animals. 

But in 1985, a new disease called BSE broke out on a single farm in Wiltshire. Nobody has ever discovered what caused the first case of BSE, but it spread across Britain rapidly. The cause of this spread was the meat and bone meal that cows were being fed. Infected animals were being ground up and fed to other animals, causing BSE to pass from cow to cow. By 1989, millions of animals had been infected. 

What happened over the next seven years was a series of poor decisions by the then Conservative government and ministry of agriculture. They failed to stop cattle infected with BSE getting into the human food chain, and also failed to alert the public to the possible dangers posed by the disease. It was only in 1996 – when ten human victims of the human form of BSE – vCJD – had been identified that the government changed its approach. 

There is no simple diagnostic test for vCJD, which was why the surveillance unit has been set up at Edinburgh University comprising neurologists, pathologists and diagnosticians. Attempts have been made to create a test, and most scientists believe the disease is caused by changes in prion proteins.

The number of deaths from definite or probable vCJD between 1995 and 2019 is 178. However, it has a long incubation period and beyond being sure that there will be more deaths, huge uncertainty remains.

In 2013 researchers reported that one in 2,000 people in the UK were carriers of vCJD, linked to eating contaminated beef. And a report by a committee of MPs in 2014 said tens of thousands of people could be "silent" carriers of the prions that cause the disease.

Despite over 20 years of scientific research, scientists are no closer to discovering a cure for it, or even a test to see who is carrying it. vCJD remains one of the great unsolved medical problems. 

The documentary Mad Cow Disease: The Great British Beef Scandal can be watched on the BBC iPlayer here.

Scots are recycling more food waste than ever according to new reports published by Zero Waste Scotland.

A total of approximately 158,500 tonnes of household and commercial solid food waste was collected in 2017, compared with the 2013 figure of 111,500 tonnes.

The increase had prevented the equivalent of 41,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere – the same as taking more than 22,000 cars off the roads for a year or driving around the world 5829 times.

The findings are from the Scottish anaerobic digestion (AD) and biogas sector survey 2017, as well as the Scottish composting sector survey 2017.

Producing electricity, heat and gas from food waste through AD allows us to capture the energy stored in our food that would otherwise be sent to landfill or incinerated. Using this waste helps to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

The rise has been helped by the introduction of the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 compelling businesses to recycle food waste. As of 2016, Scottish businesses producing more than 5kg of food waste per week have been required to present food waste separately for collection. 

The increase has also been supported by a growth in the availability of food recycling facilities to Scottish households via their local council, 80% of Scottish households now have access to food waste recycling.

Scotland will have one of the most ambitious climate change laws in the world after committing to a target of net-zero emissions by 2045.

Previous research from Zero Waste Scotland warns that food waste is worse than plastic for climate change. Food waste is a greater cause of global warming because of all the resources and energy that goes into growing and making the food in the first place. If wasted food is then sent to landfill, the impacts are even worse as this produces and emits methane, one of the most damaging greenhouse gases. In the short-term, methane is many times worse than carbon dioxide. 

Iain Gulland, Chief Executive of Zero Waste Scotland, said:

“Scotland should be proud, the recycling of more food waste into sustainable energy is an incredible achievement. The rise in recycled food waste is welcome news for Scotland’s economy and for the planet. When we waste food, we also waste the resources that went into growing, processing, transporting and packaging it, so it is hugely important that we use what we have. Of course, some food waste is inevitable – we can’t escape waste of items like fruit and vegetable peel.

“This result is fantastic, but think of all the energy that can be produced from the rest of our unavoidable food waste. We are living through a climate emergency and individuals can have a great impact without even leaving the kitchen by simply using their food waste caddy.”

Children in deprived areas are exposed to significantly more tobacco sales than those from wealthier neighbourhoods. 

This was the finding of new collaborative research between the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, which was published in the journal Tobacco Control.

The researchers used GPS-trackers to follow a group of almost 700 10-and-11-year-olds from across Scotland. 

They found that children from the most deprived neighbourhoods encounter a shop selling tobacco 149 times a week, compared to just 23 times a week for the least deprived.

The researchers mapped the location of all shops selling tobacco products across Scotland and followed the movement of the participants for eight consecutive days. The study identified how often, and for how long, the children went within 10m of a shop selling tobacco. 

The children were part of the Growing Up in Scotland study and both they, and their parents, agreed to them wearing the trackers.

The results between deprived and non-deprived areas were far more polarised than expected, researchers behind the study said.

While previous research has shown that tobacco outlets are twice as common in deprived areas. This study was able to show that children from the most deprived areas were exposed to tobacco retailing six times more frequently than children from the least deprived areas.

Most exposure came from convenience stores and newsagents selling tobacco, with peaks just before and after school. There was also a higher than expected amount of exposure from supermarkets on weekends.

Children from more deprived areas are already more likely to start smoking themselves, and pre-adolescence is a critical period where the path to starting smoking begins.

University of Glasgow's Dr Fiona Caryl, lead author of the research, said the findings provided a "significant contribution" to policy debate on tobacco availability.

She added: "Identifying ways to reverse the normalising effects of ubiquitous tobacco retailing is key to policies aimed at preventing people from starting smoking."

Professor Jamie Pearce, a co-author of the report and an expert in in tobacco-related health from University of Edinburgh said “This exciting and novel work suggests any moves to reduce tobacco availability, whether to reduce the number of retail outlets, or restrict the timing of sales, will have a greater benefit for more deprived groups who suffer the greatest amount of tobacco-related harm.”

Dr Garth Reid, Interim Head of Evidence for Action at NHS Health Scotland, said: “As a national health board working to reduce health inequalities and improve health, we were pleased to support this innovative research into children and young people’s exposure to tobacco products in Scotland. We welcome the findings, which will inform a report that we will publish later this year, considering the implications for health inequalities and tobacco control in Scotland in greater detail.” 

The study, ‘Socioeconomic inequalities in children’s exposure to tobacco retailing based on individual-level GPS data in Scotland’ is published in Tobacco Control. The work was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office (CSO) and NHS Health Scotland.

Local Authorities in Scotland have dealt with more than 60,000 complaints about pests in local authority housing in the last three years. 

The figures were obtained by the Liberal Democrats using Freedom of Information showed councils across Scotland reported the following number of complaints:

• 2016 – 22,236
• 2017 – 17,567
• 2018 – 21,365

Therefore, over the past three years a total of 61,168 complaints were received. 

Tenants complained about issues with a range of pests, including woodlice, seagulls, bats wasps, beetles, cockroaches, mice, rats, moths, squirrels, flees, spider beetles, slaters, birds, silverfish, foxes, pigeons and slugs.

Liberal Democrat housing spokeswoman Caron Lindsay said: “Although in some cases the presence of pests is unavoidable, the scale on which local authority tenants are reporting bed bugs, wasps, mice and other animals in their houses is staggering.

“It is completely unacceptable to house people in buildings that have cockroaches or other unhygienic infestations. Imagine how awful it must be to feel that you can't let your baby play on the floor in case they pick up mouse droppings or some other nasty.

“Every person deserves a clean and comfortable home. Poor quality housing can take a huge toll on people’s mental and physical health. If the SNP hadn’t been slashing local authority budgets for years they would be better placed to provide that.

“The Scottish Government should use these statistics as yet another reason to get on with building more social housing and ensuring councils have the resources to fix poor housing before it falls into disrepair.”

Elena Whitham, community well-being spokeswoman for the local government body Cosla, said: "Every home in Scotland will experience unwanted guests/pests on occasion. 

"Scottish Councils spend a significant sum every year maintaining around 314,000 homes in urban and rural areas across the country. 

"All local authorities will seek to remedy any issues arising from housing reports from tenants as quickly as possible." 

Housing minister Kevin Stewart said: "We expect local authorities and registered social landlords to ensure their homes are kept in a good state of repair and are otherwise fit for human habitation. Local authorities can provide advice and assistance, and have powers under environmental protection legislation to tackle nuisances. 

"The Scottish Government's target of delivering at least 50,000 affordable homes, including 35,000 for social rent, is on track to be delivered over this Parliament. 

"The 2019-20 Scottish Budget also provides local government with an additional £298.5m revenue funding, a real terms increase of 1.2% for day-to-day services."

Water and environment testing will be carried out at St Ambrose and Buchanan high school campus in Coatbridge.

This is part of an independent review that is being conducted in relation to reported health and safety concerns at two Coatbridge schools after water supply contamination fears. The review team is looking at specific health and safety concerns as well as the history, construction and maintenance of the school campus.

Water testing will be carried out by Scottish Water. Wider environmental testing at the campus will include soil, water and the integrity of the methane membrane, installed as a safety measure when the campus was built. 

The specific detail and locations of the testing will be determined by the review team in conjunction with SEPA and other environmental health bodies.

The results of the tests will be published as part of the report due ahead of the school opening on 12 August.

Read initial story here.

Ayrshire new potatoes are to be granted protected geographic indication (PGI) status by the EU at the end of the month, after a three- year campaign to be given the status. 

The potatoes, also known as Ayrshire Earlies, will be one of 15 listed PGIs in Scotland and includes Scotch whisky, Stornoway Black Pudding and Scottish salmon. 

Ayrshire Earlies are the very first potatoes of the Scottish season, and are naturally small with a delicate skin. They are sold with the soil still on them in order to protect them. Their unique growing conditions of sandy soil which together with the Gulf Stream ensure a warm, frost-free, environment, gives them a unique skin and flavour compared to potatoes harvested later.

The PGI status of Ayrshire new potatoes is limited to immature potatoes of the Solanum tuberosum species of the Solanaceae family grown in the county of Ayrshire. They must be planted, grown and harvested within the defined geographical area (the areas of North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire councils). 

The PGI status only protects the Ayrshire name between May to the end of July to cover the ‘early’ status.  The early varieties produce a unique fluffy skin, but after July, they have a set skin like other potatoes and are not covered with the PGI after this period.

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: "This is great news for Ayrshire potato growers, particularly given the current uncertainty for the industry being caused by Brexit. 

"Scotland has an unrivalled global reputation for quality food and drink produced from our own natural larder. 

"PGI status not only helps protect the provenance of products like Scotch whisky, Stornoway Black Pudding and Arbroath smokies but also assures consumers at home and abroad that they can trust the product they are buying, and ensures that the right expertise, ingredients and methods of production are being used. 

"I'm delighted that Ayrshire Earlies are the latest fine Scottish product to benefit from that protection.

"My congratulations to the Girvan Early Growers for making this happen." 

Andrew Young, of Girvan Early Growers, who was one of the main drivers behind the push for protected status said: "The Ayrshire potato growers are delighted to have achieved PGI status, to protect a product that is over 120 years old. 

"It is good to be recognised the same way as so many other high quality food and drink items are, and we hope that it will help to secure the future of potato growing in Ayrshire by assuring customers they are buying a genuine article with provenance, quality and flavour." 

The current system of EU geographical indications ensures only products from a particular region can be badged as such and prevents them from being imitated by others

PGI status is given to regional food products across the EU that have a specific quality, reputation or other characteristic attributable to the area they’re grown or made in, and ensures they are legally protected from imitation throughout the EU. It can also help promote the product and the area they are grown in. 

The Scottish Government is considering a proposal to charge consumers 20 to 25p for single-use disposable cups, after an expert panel found it would encourage more use of reusable alternatives.

The Expert Panel on Environmental Charging and Other Measures(EPECOM) found 200 million single-use disposable beverage cups were consumed each year in Scotland and without intervention, this is projected to increase to 310 million by 2025, according to EPECOM’s report.

A charge of at least 20p would be needed to change the behaviour of 49% of the population, according to an academic literature review from the University of Cardiff, which was commissioned by the panel.

The review did note that though the cup charge would be effective and unlikely to affect hot drinks sales, the use of single-use disposable cups is more resistant to behavioural change than single-use carrier bags.

EPECOM was set up in May 2018 to advise Scottish ministers on charges which have the potential to encourage long-term and sustainable changes to consumer and producer behaviour.

The Panel advises that promoting cultural and behavioural change is critical and will underpin the success of implementing any of the other measures recommended.

A range of other measures and interventions have been provided in the Panel’s report, which states that there is “no single solution” to reducing single-use cup use given the complexities of how people access on-the-go beverages.

As well as introducing a charge for disposable cups, the report highlights the need for a fundamental change to make reusable containers more accessible and convenient.

Retailers should encourage reuse at point of sale and single-use cups should be banned in settings where this is possible – such as workplaces or festivals – the Scottish panel believes. Trials to establish this culture should take place in significant locations in Scotland, potentially by the end of 2019.

The panel also suggested that the Scottish government consider an “ambitious” national consumption reduction target for single-use disposable beverage cups. It also supported banning the sale of non-recyclable expanded polystyrene/PVC cups by 2021, in line with EU Single-use Plastics Directive.

Welcoming the report, Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said:

“Disposable cups present an obvious littering issue, but there is ever-growing awareness within our society of the impact single-use plastic has on our wider environment.

“The scale of the issue is also clear – as is the Expert Panel’s conclusion that no one measure alone will be effective: our approach to reducing single-cup use must involve a joined-up effort across government, business, communities and individuals.” 

“I am grateful to the Expert Panel for their thorough, evidence-based assessment of measures to reduce the consumption of single-use cups in Scotland. I will be giving the report’s findings my full consideration and will respond to the Panel’s recommendations in due course.”

Dame Sue Bruce, Chair, Expert Panel on Environmental Charging and Other Measures said:

“Over the first year the Panel has focused its attentions on single-use disposable beverage cups. We have discovered that there are many complex issues to tackle and a myriad of factors that must be considered. We have asked questions about what we can do together in Scotland – as consumers, communities, producers, retailers and government – to radically change our attitudes and our use of single-use items.

Our conclusion is that there needs to be a fundamental move away from single-use disposable beverage cups and not just to an improved model for recycling. We have recommended a range of measures to achieve this – including charging separately for disposable cups and developing pilots to promote reusable cups.”

Health boards in Scotland are to be given a share of £1.7 million to deliver new standards for weight management services for children and young people. 

The Scottish government funding is part of a plan to halve the number of overweight under-18s by 2030 and reduce diet-related health inequalities.

It is a reaction to growing inequality in the levels of obesity between children in the wealthiest and poorest areas of Scotland.

The investment comes after NHS Health Scotland published standards for weight management services for under 18 year olds, to ensure quality and equal access to provision across the country.

Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick said: “We want children and families to have access to the appropriate support to achieve as healthy a weight as possible, no matter where they live.

“We are committed to supporting local partners across health and local government to develop ambitious and effective plans to prevent and reduce childhood obesity. Weight management services will be a vital component of effective action.”

Senior Health Improvement Officer at NHS Health Scotland Suzanne Connolly PhD said: “We all have a responsibility to work together to help people in Scotland to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

“There is growing inequality in the prevalence of obesity between children in our wealthiest and poorest areas, and we have to address it.

“The standards published by NHS Health Scotland are designed to ensure that all children and young people in Scotland will receive the same high quality weight management support, informed by the best evidence available and good practice.”

A Nairn restaurant and take-away owner has been prosecuted by the Highland Council after officers from Environmental Health uncovered a catalogue of unsafe food hygiene practices.   

An inspection of the Al Raj Restaurant, in Harbour Street, Nairn was carried out on 21 September 2017 as part of Operation Hottah which is a multi-agency operation involving officers from Environmental Health, Police Scotland, Home Office Immigration Enforcement and HMRC. 

Inside the kitchen officers identified a significant number of food safety contraventions including dirty equipment, inadequate cleaning and disinfection of work surfaces, and unsafe food storage and handling practices, all of which created a serious risk to food safety. As a result, the officers served an enforcement notice to stop the food operation. 

On the 9 July 2019 at Inverness Sheriff Court, Mr Mobarok Ali pleaded guilty to three food safety offences under The Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and was fined a total of £4800. 

Andy Summers, Head of Environmental and Amenity Services at Highland Council said: "The basic principles of food hygiene were clearly being ignored and unsafe practices placed the consumer at risk of food poisoning. 

"Food business operators have a clear and absolute legal duty to ensure that they handle, prepare and serve food safely and the Highland Council is committed to ensuring that food hygiene standards are met by all food businesses. 

"The Council takes protection of the public and food hygiene matters extremely seriously. Our officers are happy to work with and advise businesses on these issues, however, where standards have slipped to unacceptable levels, we will not hesitate to use formal action to secure compliance with legislation."

Image: Unclean floor surfaces under kitchen work equipment- Highland Council