Vaping adverts called to be banned by The George Institute

In total 4,000 15 to 30-year-olds from the UK, India, China and Australia, were surveyed in a study from The George Institute, many of whom had never vaped before.

Of the UK participants, 55% indicated they were curious about vaping, while half said they would use a vape if a friend offered one to them.

They were also less likely to believe that vaping was addictive (74%) or harmful (67%), compared to Australians (87% and 83% respectively), where susceptibility was the lowest, Sky News reports.

Children included in the poll were asked if they had ever vaped and 11.6% said yes which was up from 5.6% in 2014.

The young people surveyed in the UK were less likely to see vaping as harmful compared to other countries (Image: PA)

In terms of seeing adverts for vaping, young people in the UK were the most likely out of the countries to have seen on (63% said they had).

What action should the Government take on vaping adverts?

Researchers at The George Institute surmised that four factors likely contributed to young people taking up vaping.

Exposure to advertising, past tobacco use, high incomes, and having friends or family who vaped were seen as the main ones.

Programme director of health promotion and behaviour change at The George Institute, Professor Simone Pettigrew, discussed how posters and billboards for vaping products were "still prevalent" in the UK.

She said: "A complete ban on e-cigarette advertising should be considered, as it is clearly influencing young people's attitudes towards these addictive and potentially harmful products."

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) also warned that vapes were "not a risk-free product and can be just as addictive, if not more so than traditional cigarettes".

In 2019, the promotion of vapes on Instagram was banned which health campaigners described as "a huge step forward".