Vapes are to be put in plain packaging under proposals which aim to stop the devices being marketed to children.
Health leaders have launched a consultation which also proposes that vape devices can only come in three colours: white, black or grey.
The UK-wide proposals will also see restrictions on flavour descriptions using simple names such as “apple” while banning names relating to sweets, desserts and alcohol.
The consultation also sets out plans to keep vapes out of sight in shops, the Department of Health and Social Care said.
Anyone is eligible to respond to this consultation.
Announcing the plans, Health Secretary James Murray said: “Today, we’re launching a 12-week consultation about our plans to make vaping less attractive to children and young people.
“We all recognise that vaping has a role to play for adults to stop smoking… but I don’t think any of us want children and young people to start vaping in the first place.
“A lot of the marketing is designed in a way where it’s very colourful, some of the names are clearly aimed at children and young people – that’s what we want to take on.
“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.”
‘We want children and young people not to start vaping in the first place’, said James Murray.
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).
England’s chief medical officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, has said in the past that marketing vapes to children is “utterly unacceptable”.
Professor Steve Turner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, welcomed the consultation, adding: “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.”
The Department of Health and Social Care said that the consultation includes plans for white packaging for vapes with restrictions on text colour, imagery, branding and standardised product information.
Officials said that the move follows the success of standardised packaging for cigarettes since 2017.
The consultation also proposes inserts for cigarette packs telling them where to get help to quit and plans to make all tobacco products – including cigarette rolling paper and cigars – come in plain packaging.
The proposals also include plans to remove exemptions which allow duty-free shops and airports to display tobacco products, meaning cigarettes and other tobacco products will be restricted from view in these settings.
Research published last year concluded that adults are still likely to buy e-cigarettes sold in plain packs.
The study, led by UCL and King’s College London researchers, involved 2,770 children and young people aged 11 to 18 and 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.
Among the children and young people questioned, half (53%) said their peers would be interested in trying vapes in their usual packaging, according to the study, which was published in the Lancet Regional Health Europe.
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.
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