Australia could become first nation to outlaw smoking

Australia could become the first major nation to outlaw smoking.

A federal government-funded trial is about to test the viability of electronic cigarettes as a safer, permanent replacement for tobacco.

Medical experts, cancer groups and anti-smoking lobbyists battled for decades to rid cigarettes from public spaces, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

According to the report, 'E-cigarettes' are battery-powered devices that simulate the effects of smoking by heating a nicotine liquid into vapour, which the user then inhales and exhales.