UK Government want to make huge changes to e-cigs to deter children

The UK Government has launched a fresh crackdown on vapes to stop the devices being marketed to children, with ministers proposing that they should only be put in plain packaging.

Health leaders have launched a 12-week-long consultation period, suggesting that e-cigarettes should only come in three colours: white, black, or grey, rather than the normal array of eye-catching colours and flavours that we see on shop shelves.

It follows last year’s legislation, which saw single-use, disposable vapes become illegal to sell or supply in the UK.

Now, the government wants to take things a step further and ban not only colourful vapes, but also those that have flavour descriptions relating to things like sweets, desserts, and alcohol, and that have simple flavour descriptions like ‘apple’ or ‘cola’.

The consultation also sets out plans to keep vapes out of sight in shops, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

Health Secretary James Murray told the Press Association: “Today, we’re launching a 12-week consultation about our plans to make vaping less attractive for children and young people.”

Officials are proposing that vape packaging should be plain and either black, white or grey (Getty Stock Image)

He reasoned: “Because I think we all know that the way that some of the vaping products are promoted - the very colourful packaging and names that might be aimed at children and young people - that’s wrong because we want to make sure that, as well as being a smoke-free generation, we want children and young people not to start vaping in the first place.”

He urged that while vaping ‘plays a role’ for adults who are coming off smoking, we need to make sure that ‘children and young people don’t start it in the first place’.

The Health Secretary added, “It is right to do that consultation first, so we can get the implementation right.

“But the principle behind it is such an important one, which is to make sure that children and young people don’t get drawn into vaping in the first place.”

Officials explained that the proposal follows the previous success of standardised packaging for cigarettes, which has been in place since 2017.

The idea is to make the habit less appealing to children (Getty Stock Image)

Figures suggest that almost one in five (19%) 11–17-year-olds in Britain have tried vaping, according to a poll conducted on behalf of the charity Action on Smoking and Health (Ash).

Hazel Cheeseman, who is chief executive of the charity, urged: “Protecting children from harmful vape marketing is the right thing to do.

“Attractive, colourful branding and images have driven the appeal of vapes to children, leading to an increase in use.”

While Professor Steve Turner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, welcomed the consultation, he added: “For those of us working with children every day, it is clear that only strong and meaningful regulation will protect them from the harms associated with nicotine addiction.”