Dr Michael Keane and Tom Elliott discuss the impact of e-cigarettes

There are calls for e-cigarettes to be legalised.

While they’ve become readily available in Australia, the smoking of e-cigarettes is in fact against the law.

But Dr Michael Keane, special anaesthetist and adjunct associate professor at Swinburne University, told Tom Elliott there was no logical reason why they were illegal.

He said smokers should be encouraged to use them, in an attempt to get off cigarettes.

‘People smoke for the nicotine but die from the tar,’ he explained.

‘Nicotine itself is not particularly harmful.’

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