Lolly-flavoured e-cigarettes that contain no nicotine and could be sold to anyone, including school children, are available in Victoria.
Tobacco companies are exploiting the ambiguity of Victoria's e-cigarette laws to pitch these "vaping" toys to a junior market, according to health experts.
Quit Victoria tobacco control policy manager Kylie Lindorff said that while nicotine-laced e-cigarettes were banned in Australia, the sale of non-nicotine versions – often colourful and lolly-flavoured – was completely unregulated in Victoria, meaning even children could buy them over the counter.
"We're incredibly concerned about that. We'd like to see the sale of these products banned outright," Ms Lindorff said.
But nightclub owner Alexander McDonell, managing director of The Joystick Company, which produces a brand of flavoured e-cigarettes, said the ingredients found in the products were no different from those found in commonly consumed food.
"I'd go as far to say it's a healthy thing to do. It's definitely a healthier alternative to smoking," he said.
Mr McDonell sells the products through tobacconists and service stations and also in several of his CBD nightclubs.
He said using an e-cigarette was no different from inhaling the "steam or vapour you get when you're ironing your clothes".
But the products have not been tested through regulatory bodies and the long-term effects of inhaling key ingredients vegetable glycerine and propylene glycol are unknown.
Mr McDonell said that as a precaution, labels on Joystick packaging and on the website advised sale to adults only, and recommended against use by pregnant and nursing women.
But Ms Lindorff said anecdotal evidence suggested that teenagers were vaping in Victoria, and studies from Poland and US reported an "alarming" jump in the uptake of e-cigarette use among teenagers.
"Unfortunately, it was a fad for a while but what's happened now is big tobacco companies have come and bought up these industries," she said.
Ms Lindorff said Quit was "very alarmed" given big tobacco's marketing expertise. E-cigarette marketing was similar to traditional tobacco adverts of the past, she said.
"They're the same ploys the tobacco industry used to use: sex and sport. We are quite concerned that it will re-normalise smoking more broadly," she said.
But Stephen Jenkins, director of Nicoventures, an e-cigarette company established by British American Tobacco, said there was strong evidence from the United Kingdom that e-cigarettes were used almost exclusively by smokers as a quitting or reduction aide.
"Smokers are actually making the decision themselves to move this way. They're not being forced," he said.
Dr Jenkins called for the establishment of a regulatory framework looking at the standards introduced in Europe.
He said said Nicoventures did not sell e-cigarettes in Australia.
"Electronic cigarettes should not be targeted at anyone under 18," he said.
"Nicoventures has held preliminary discussions with the [Theraputic Goods Administration] but has not made a formal application to license an e-cigarette or any other product in Australia."
