Last Friday the Therapeutic Goods Administration made its final decision to uphold the ban, citing evidence that e-cigarette use caused nicotine addiction and could lead to teenagers becoming hooked on tobacco.

A group of 16 doctors, academics and public health advocates had tried to reverse the decision, campaigning on grounds that e-cigarettes were a useful tool to help smokers quit.

"It is unethical and unscientific to exempt nicotine in tobacco products and to deny smokers access to a much safer alternative," the group wrote in a submission to the TGA last February.

Dr Colin Mendelsohn is a conjoint associate professor at the University of New South Wales and was one of the researchers who penned the submission.

He said he was disappointed the group had failed to convince the TGA to adopt a policy that could save the lives of thousands of Australians.

"It has slipped under the radar a little bit. We tried to make the administration realise that this could save hundreds of thousands of Australian lives," he said.

"This is a much safer alternative to tobacco - the most lethal consumer product ever invented. To ban [nicotine in e-cigarettes] is unethical and unscientific."

Although the use of nicotine in e-cigarettes did carry some risks, these were far outweighed by benefits such as helping smokers kick the habit, Dr Mendelsohn said.

"We know that millions of people have quit smoking as a result of e-cigarettes."

In Australia it is legal to buy e-cigarette "vaping" devices but there is a ban on the purchase of the nicotine packages they use.

The use of nicotine in e-cigarettes is currently legal in the United Kingdom and the United States, while countries such as Canada and New Zealand are moving towards legalisation.

Meeting in Canberra on Monday, the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand said the ban represented good public health policy.

"To date, the evidence does not support the lifting of this ban," the society's president Professor Peter Gibson said.

"While electronic cigarettes are likely to be less dangerous than smoking cigarettes, they are not harmless.

"We have an increasing body of evidence pointing to the harms of e-cigarettes containing nicotine."

Professor Gibson said there was not enough evidence to show the benefits of legalising nicotine in e-cigarettes would outweigh the costs.

"Accumulating evidence is showing that vaping is associated with adverse cardio-respiratory effects, DNA damage and impaired development in young people and pregnant women," he said.

"If the TGA were to remove the ban, consumers could be under the false impression that all e-cigarettes were safe and effective cessation aids."