heraldscotland staff
Published on 9 Feb 2010
A schoolboy who petitioned the Scottish Parliament about possible links between vitamin D and multiple sclerosis has said he is proud of what he had achieved.
Ryan McLaughlin, 14, took his case to Holyrood’s Public Petition Committee last summer.
The petition called on ministers to produce new guidelines on vitamin D supplements for children and pregnant women, along with an awareness campaign about the issue.
The Scottish Government has now agreed to support and host a summit in April on the role of vitamin D and to produce the guidance on supplements.
Ryan took up the cause after watching his mother Kirsten suffering the incurable disease.
The Public Petitions Committee has greed to close his petition.
Ryan said afterwards: “After an amazing year in raising both vitamin D and MS awareness, I now have the commitments that I wanted from the Scottish Government.
“I applaud the positive action taken by the Scottish Government and the support from Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Shona Robison, Health and Sports Minister.”
Ryan’s local MSP Bill Butler hailed the campaigning schoolboy’s achievement, saying “a very great deal of progress” has been made.
The Glasgow Anniesland MSP praised how “Ryan and the McLaughlin family have persuaded the Government and the Government has listened to the very sensible suggestions contained in the petition”.
He said: “The Government has agreed to a co-ordinated programme of action with NHS Scotland to produce guidance on vitamin D, to educate women on its importance, to consider different messages for different groups of people and to ensure that health professionals are giving correct and consistent advice to pregnant women and new mothers in relation to vitamin D.”
He described that as a “significant success”, and added: “It’s people listening to what is a very sensible set of suggestions from someone whose personal circumstances have convinced him that there is need for reform here.
“It’s a success story.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “We’re keen to learn all we can about any possible links between vitamin D and multiple sclerosis and are keeping a very close eye on all the emerging evidence.”
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/politics/schoolboy-proud-of-vitamin-d-campaign-1.1005227
Tags: campaigner, health news, MS Society Scotland, Multiple Sclerosis, Multiple Sclerosis Campaign, multiple slerosis news, news, Nicola Sturgeon, petitions committee, Ryan McLaughlin, scotland, Scottish government, Scottish Parliment, Shine on Scotland, The Herald, Vitamin D, vitamin d campaign, vitamin d3
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 10:24 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.
