Big tobacco companies are seeking to overturn Australia’s ban on vaping in a bid to prise open one of the last untapped developed markets for the $25bn-a-year ecigarette industry. 

Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco have made submissions to an Australian parliamentary inquiry that is considering whether ecigarettes should be legalised.

Vaping companies have provided seed funding for a doctor-led charity leading the fight to legalise ecigarettes, [...]