This open access book offers the first in-depth study of the history and current debates surrounding electronic cigarettes comparing the UK, US and Australia. Since their introduction, e-cigarettes have been the subject of much public, media and regulatory attention, with discussion centring on whether these devices encourage or discourage smoking. This study delves into the history of policymaking and institutions in three countries which have taken different approaches to the regulation of e-cigarettes. In the UK, the tradition of harm reduction through nicotine has helped form a response which has endorsed e-cigarettes, though not without considerable controversy. In contrast, the US has a cessation-only anti-tobacco agenda, and Australia has effectively banned e-cigarettes. This book argues that each country frames the long-term use of nicotine differently and prioritises the health of different groups within the population of smokers or non-smokers, set against a broad backdrop of national responses to addiction. By taking this comparative approach, the authors explore the relationship between history, evidence and policy in public health more widely.

• Introduction: before e-cigarettes—the pre-history of public health, tobacco and nicotine in the UK, Australia and the US, Virginia Berridge, Amy L. Fairchild, Kylie Morphett, Coral Gartner, Wayne Hall, Ronald Bayer - Pages 1-21 
• Outlier or pioneer? the development of policy on e-cigarettes in England, Virginia Berridge - Pages 23-52 
• The development of e-cigarette policy in Australia: the policy, how it came about and how it is justified, Kylie Morphett, Wayne Hall, Coral Gartner - Pages 53-82 
• E-cigarettes and the burdens of history: children, bystanders and the American war on nicotine, Ronald Bayer, Amy L. Fairchild - Pages 83-119 
• Conclusion: why did the UK, US and Australia have different e-cigarette policies?, Virginia Berridge, Amy L. Fairchild, Kylie Morphett, Coral Gartner, Wayne Hall, Ronald Bayer - Pages 121-137