Overview
- An experimental UCL and King’s College London study published in Lancet Regional Health Europe found interest among 11–18s fell from 53% with branded packs to 38% with standardised designs.
- Adults’ willingness to try e‑cigarettes and their perceptions of vaping’s harm relative to cigarettes changed little when packaging was plain.
- Researchers tested multiple pack variants, including branded designs, plain white packs with usual flavour names, plain packs with limited descriptors, and fully standardised packs listing coded flavours such as “FR248.”
- Lead author Dr Eve Taylor and Action on Smoking and Health’s Hazel Cheeseman urged ministers to enact packaging and flavour rules using powers in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill now before the House of Lords.
- Disposable single‑use vapes are already banned from sale, and government proposals reported for this week would give communities planning powers to limit additional vape shops on high streets.