August 29 news, according to foreign reports, new research has found that most Australian Queenslanders believe that e-cigarettes are very addictive, many public places should ban e-cigarettes, and social media should not allow e-cigarette advertising.

The findings come as the state government has come under criticism from doctors who this year jointly awarded Queensland and Victoria a "dirty ashtray award" for failing to license tobacco retailers and crack down on children The act of selling electronic cigarettes.

Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, are battery-powered devices that heat fluids that allow users to inhale vapor.

Some of them are designed to appeal to children and teens through the use of colorful packaging and sweet flavors.

In Australia, nicotine-containing e-cigarettes are only legally available by prescription, but in practice it can be difficult to tell which products contain harmful and addictive chemicals.

Queensland Health says it is illegal to sell e-cigarettes to children and young people under the age of 18, whether or not they contain nicotine.

A Cancer Council survey of 3,522 Australian adults in September 2021 found 69 per cent of Queenslanders believed vaping was highly addictive.

The survey showed that 80% of people believe that e-cigarettes should not be used on public transport, bars, restaurants or other outdoor venues, and 68% want to ban the promotion of products on social and digital media.

Sarah White, director of anti-smoking support programme Quit, said the results reflected widespread community concern about vaping.

Dr White said: "We are seeing high support for regulation that is effective in protecting offspring from addiction.

The Victorian tobacco control expert, who has a PhD in paediatric genetics, said the health effects of e-cigarettes were still being revealed.

"Looking back, it took us 30 to 40 years to figure out what all the risks of cigarettes were, and e-cigarettes haven't been around long enough to know what all these effects would be," she said.

"But we certainly know there's a potential for lung damage -- when you inhale from an e-cigarette, you're inhaling fine particles, heavy metals and chemicals that damage the lungs."

Researchers from the Australian National University published a review of the global evidence on the effects of e-cigarettes in April 2022.

It found solid evidence that e-cigarettes can cause poisoning, injury and burns and direct toxicity through inhalation, including seizures, and that their use can lead to addiction and… less serious adverse events such as throat irritation and nausea.

It also found strong evidence that these devices increased the uptake of combustible cigarettes among non-smokers, especially young adults, and limited evidence that nicotine-containing e-cigarettes helped people quit smoking.

Dr White said Queensland needed to implement a retail licensing scheme to help ensure vaping laws were enforced.

"The Cancer Council would like to see enforcement at the state and territory level so that retailers are doing the wrong thing by selling e-cigarettes to children or selling vaping with nicotine, which is illegal, and we'd like to see enforcement really ramp up. "she says.

"We certainly need more from the federal government to stop the illegal importation of illegal cigarettes that contain nicotine."

Dr White said there also needed to be better awareness that vaping was illegal in non-smoking indoor and outdoor spaces.

"Queensland has done a really good job of introducing smoke-free legislation, so they have great protection around smoke-free areas," she said.

"I think it's very important for people to understand that vaping should be covered by smoke-free legislation because people are still inhaling all kinds of things from these e-cigarettes, and if someone around you is vaping, you're inhaling that too."

Queensland and Victoria have shared the 2022 Dirty Ashtray Award from the Australian Council on Smoking and Health and the Australian Medical Association (AMA).

AMA Queensland chair Maria Boulton has called on the state to enforce existing vaping regulations and implement a licensing system.

"We have written to the Minister of Health and the Attorney-General, calling on them to urgently correct these failures before Queensland children become the next generation of smokers and suffer the associated catastrophic health consequences," Dr Bolton said.

"Children and non-smokers must be protected not only from smoke exposure, but also to normalize smoking."

She said it was a disappointing result as Queensland had previously won the National Award for Tobacco Control Measures four years in a row.

A Queensland Department of Health spokesman acknowledged in a statement that more needed to be done.

"That's why the Queensland government recently announced changes to the state's smoking laws," they said.

"These measures include stronger action to prevent the sale and supply of illicit tobacco, tighter restrictions on cigarette machines in licensed premises, expansion of smoke-free areas and a licensing scheme for the sale of e-cigarettes or vaping devices."

The spokesman said Queensland Health was also working with the Queensland Police Service and the Lung Foundation to produce educational videos about the dangers of vaping.