REHIS News

A woman has been convicted of illegally whitening people's teeth.

Brenda McFadyen, from Clydebank, was fined £1,000 after she pled guilty to the illegal practice of dentistry at Glasgow Sheriff Court last month.

The Dentists Act 1984 makes it illegal for anyone who is not registered with the General Dental Council (GDC) to practise dentistry. The GDC, which regulates the UK dental industry, allows only registered dentists to carry out teeth whitening.

Three supermarket chains have given confusing or incorrect information on allergens in their bakeries, the BBC Watchdog has found.

Branches of Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco gave wrong or unclear details to the undercover reporters from the BBC’s consumer programme. The reporters visited 24 supermarket bakeries, five of which showed cause for concern. 

The retailers said they would review their labelling and staff training.

On the 27 October 2018, a group of 7 students and a lecturer from a small class of 13 students gathered for a meal in Edinburgh to celebrate 40 years since they all met for the first time as first year students attending the block release course of Sanitary Science at Napier College.

Curbs on the marketing of alcoholic drinks to protect children are included in new plans to tackle alcohol harm.

The Scottish Government’s ‘Alcohol Framework 2018: Preventing Harm’, includes proposals to consult on alcohol marketing such as public spaces and online. Under the framework, the UK Government will be pressed to impose a 9pm watershed for alcohol advertising on TV, and restrictions on advertising in cinemas are also proposed.

Large-scale Low Emission Zones (LEZs) can deliver improvements in urban air quality and these can be linked to changes in childhood respiratory health. However, more ambitious schemes are required to meet legislative limits and deliver improvements to respiratory health, according to a study in the Lancet Public Health journal.

The study looked into the impact of London’s LEZ and found that while it has improved air quality it has not been enough to benefit children’s lung health.

Cuts to environmental health departments are putting the public at “high risk of harm”, according to the Unison Tipping Point Study.

The study used Freedom of Information requests to local authorities and a Scotland-wide survey of UNISON members working in environmental health departments to examine the impact of austerity in areas such as food safety and standards, waste management and pollution control.

MPs have called on the Government to strengthen the commitments made in its 25-year Environment Plan in order to prepare for the event of a no-deal Brexit scenario, claiming that the UK is currently at risk of losing one-third of green legislation if no agreement with the EU is agreed.

An independent review of “Cleaner Air for Scotland- The Road to a Healthier Future” has been announced. 

Cleaner Air for Scotland – The Road to a Healthier Future (CAFS) is Scotland’s first strategy specifically dedicated to tackling the issue in Scotland – previous strategies were conducted on a UK basis – was published in November 2015.

Public Health England (PHE) has announced that a UK resident has sadly died after becoming infected with rabies following a cat bite during a visit to Morocco.

They said that while there was no risk to the wider public, as a precautionary measure, health workers and close contacts of the person who died were being assessed and offered vaccination when necessary.

The Scottish Government has launched a campaign highlighting the pitfalls of buying illegally bred puppies.

Buy a Puppy Safely campaign will focus on raising awareness of the tactics used by illegal breeders to deceive buyers.

Research shows that Scots are more likely to buy an illegally-bred puppy than they might think, with only 24% of Scots buying from an approved breeder and 1 in 4 considering using an online or website to buy a puppy.