Doctors and health groups say e-cigarettes should be banned from being advertised or sold in South Australia.
A joint submission has been put to a State Parliamentary inquiry by the Australian Medical Association (AMA), Heart Foundation and Asthma Foundation.
They argue the wide use of e-cigarettes could mean a return to the “bad old days of cigarette smoking being an aspirational activity for young people”.
Maurice Swanson, Heart Foundation spokesman on tobacco control, said decades of work aimed at stopping people from smoking could be undone.
“We’re well on our way to recording a major public health victory in tobacco control — and the emergence of e-cigarettes, we feel, could be a threat to the large amount of work … over the last 40 years to address the smoking challenge,” he said.
The groups argue aggressive marketing of e-cigarettes to young people could again normalise smoking.
“One of our primary concerns is that it could be attractive to young people, as it has been in other countries like the UK and America,” Mr Swanson said.
Mr Swanson said Australia had one of the most successful tobacco control programs in the world, resulting in fewer reported cases of lung cancer and heart disease induced by smoking.
AMA South Australian president Janice Fletcher said her biggest concern was use of e-cigarettes by children.
“If you are flavouring e-cigarettes by chocolate, chewing gum and fruit flavours we believe that is to entice children to use these devices,” she said.
“South Australia has the lowest childhood smoking rates it’s ever had — we don’t want to go backwards.”
Dr Fletcher said South Australia should follow Western Australia, which banned e-cigarettes last year.
A parliamentary committee is looking at possible regulation of e-cigarette use and sale and the potential health risks from exposure to nicotine vapour.