New research has called for plain packaging for vape products in the hope that it will reduce appeal for children.
The research, carried out by University College London and King’s College London, utilised data from 2,770 children aged 11-18 and 3,947 adults. Both groups were shown vape products in their usual packaging; in standardised packaging with usual flavour descriptions and standardised packaging with limited flavour descriptions, and the children asked if their peers would be interested in trying the products while the adult group was asked if they would be interested in trying the products. The adult group was also shown standardised packaging with coded flavour descriptions.
In the 11-18 group, 53% of those surveyed said their peers would be interested in trying the products in their usual packaging which dropped to 38% when shown vapes in standardised packs with usual flavour descriptions, and rising to 40% for standardised packaging with limited flavour descriptions.
In the adult group, 28% said they would be interested in trying the product themselves in usual packaging, this dropped to 24.6% for standardised packs with usual flavour descriptions, rose to 30% for standardised packaging with limited flavour descriptions, and then dropped to 24% for standardised packaging with coded flavour descriptions.
According to the research article, “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”.
It added that “the evidence for standardising flavour descriptors is less clear, although this should still be considered as previous evidence has highlighted the importance of flavours to youth”.
Commenting on the findings, UKVIA director general John Dunne said: “The suggestion that selling vapes in cigarette-like plain packaging is the ‘magic bullet’ to curb youth uptake while having no impact on adult sales is nonsense. We already have record numbers of adult smokers wrongly believing that vapes are at least as harmful as cigarettes – if not even more so – which means the very last thing we should be doing is making them look like tobacco products.
“If anything, vape packaging should provide more educational information for adult smokers about the harm reduction benefits of vaping versus conventional cigarettes. Studies from the UK, Canada and the USA show that where measures like this are introduced, ex-smokers relapse to cigarettes. We have already seen this happening in the aftermath of the single use vapes ban and plain packaging would just make things worse.
“Let’s do all in our power to help the UK’s remaining six million smokers switch to less harmful alternatives while tackling youth uptake by enforcing the existing laws on underage sales, bringing in vape licensing for retailers and distributors and imposing fines of £10,000 for those who sell to minors.”
In response to the research, Jamie Strachan, operations director at VPZ | The Vaping Specialist, said “plain packaging on its own is not the answer”. “The reality is that the products fuelling youth uptake are pre-filled pods and pre-filled vapes, and the continued availability of these products in non-specialist vape retailers means the problem will persist until restrictions are introduced.
“These products have already undermined the disposable vape ban introduced earlier this year, and they continue to damage the role of vaping as a cessation tool designed for adult smokers.
“If the government is serious about protecting young people, the focus must be on banning pre-filled vapes and pods. Plain packaging may play a small part, but it is no substitute for decisive action against the real source of the problem.”
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