Vapes should be sold in plain packaging to significantly curb their appeal to children without deterring adult users, new research suggests.
Experts believe that selling e-cigarettes in standardised packs would effectively reduce youth uptake while preserving their role as a smoking cessation tool for adults.
This comes as a study, spearheaded by researchers at UCL and King’s College London, assessed how standardised packaging and restricted flavour descriptions influenced the attractiveness of vape pods.
The comprehensive research involved 2,770 children and young people aged between 11 and 18, alongside just under 4,000 adults.
They were shown vape packs and children were asked about whether they felt their peers would be interested in trying the product, while adults were asked if they themselves would be interested in trying it.
The different packs were: usual branded packs; a plain white pack with the usual description of the product in black lettering, such a “blu razz”; a plain pack with limited flavour descriptions, such as “blue raspberry”; and a standardised pack with the flavour listed as a code instead of a name, such as “FR248”.
Among the children and young people questioned, half (53%) said their peers would be interested in trying vapes in their usual packaging.
This dropped to 38% when they were shown vapes in standardised packs with usual flavour descriptions.
Among adults, interest remained similar whether packs were standardised in white or branded packing.
The researchers also found that standardised packaging did not affect how harmful adults perceived vapes to be compared with cigarettes.
“Standardised packaging and limiting flavour descriptors reduced youth appeal but had minimal effect on adults’ interest or harm perception,” the research team wrote in the journal Lancet Regional Health Europe.
Usual vape packaging often includes “colourful designs and conceptual flavour names”, which appeal to children, the authors of the paper said.
“Vape packaging and flavour regulations need to strike a delicate balance,” said lead author Dr Eve Taylor, based at UCL’s Department of Behavioural Science and Health and formerly at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London.
“They must aim to deter young people and people who do not smoke, while at the same time avoid discouraging people who smoke from using vaping to quit.
“Our findings, in line with past evidence, show that regulating vape packaging might be helpful by reducing vaping’s appeal to adolescents but not adults. This gets us close to striking that balance.”
Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of the charity Action on Smoking and Health, which supported the study, added: “This is important research which illustrates how policymakers could better regulate vapes to protect children without damaging them as a quitting aid for smokers.
“Parliament must now get on and pass the Tobacco and Vapes Bill so detailed regulations can be laid without which it will be much more challenging to reduce teen vaping.”
England’s chief medical officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, has said in the past that marketing vapes to children is “utterly unacceptable”.
A ban on disposable vapes was introduced earlier this year, with experts saying the move would help reduce the number of children who vape.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which is currently passing through the House of Lords, will allow ministers to regulate the flavours, packaging and display of vapes.
The authors of the latest paper say that packaging is “a primary marketing tool for vape companies”.
They conclude: “Overall, our findings suggest that a policy to standardise packaging could reduce youth and non-smoking adults’ interest in trying vaping products, without dissuading adults who smoke from trying them or inflating misperceptions of harm.”
