April 1 - The UK government is to consider banning fruit-flavored e-cigarettes in a bid to combat their use by young people, according to ITV News.

In a speech next month, the public health minister, Neil O'Brien, is expected to call for an inquiry into the issue and a possible ban on addictive fruit flavours that have exploded in popularity in recent years.

In the UK, it is illegal to sell e-cigarettes to anyone under the age of 18, and there are strict restrictions on nicotine content, refill bottles and can sizes, as well as on advertising and labelling.

Responding to a question in the House of Commons on Thursday, the justice minister, Dominic Raab, said the Department of Health and Social Care was exploring ways to tackle the problem of vaping among young people.

The government remains keen to promote the use of e-cigarettes among adults as an alternative to smoking.

Research published last July found that the proportion of children using e-cigarettes was rising, with many of them influenced by social media sites, including TikTok.

Newer, single-use e-cigarettes are growing in popularity, partly because they cost about £5 each and come in a variety of colours and fruit flavours.

Although it is illegal to sell e-cigarettes to young people, social media has featured posts of teenagers displaying the devices and discussing flavors such as pink lemonade, strawberry banana and mango.

A recent study suggests that forcing e-cigarette makers to release their products makes them less appealing to children.

The results were in stark contrast to the adult group, whose interest in using e-cigarettes was not diminished by plain packaging.

Last month, England's chief medical officer attacked the "appalling" marketing of e-cigarettes to children - saying some products were clearly designed to appeal to minors.

Professor Sir Chris Whitty told MPS: I think everyone would agree that the marketing of an addictive product like e-cigarettes, which, as you suggest, has unknown consequences for the intellectual development of children, is completely unacceptable.

An Ash report last year found that the current proportion of 11 - to 17-year-olds using e-cigarettes jumped from 4% in 2020 to 7% in 2022.

In 2013, only 3% of children aged 11 to 15 had used e-cigarettes, but this rose to 8% in 2020 and 10% in 2022.