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The Cancer Society wants vaping prohibited in smokefree parts of Dunedin, saying e-cigarettes do not send the right message.
The suggestion came from Sophie Carty, the health promotion and advocacy manager for the Cancer Society's Otago and Southland branches, in a submission on the Dunedin City Council's 10-year plan yesterday.
Ms Carty, responding to questions from Crs Mike Lord and Jim O'Malley, told the hearing the Cancer Society was due to release a national position statement on vaping and e-cigarettes shortly.
In the meantime, smokefree areas of Dunedin should also be free of vaping and e-cigarettes, to protect people from "smoking behaviour''.
Her comments came as recent international studies pointed to dramatic health benefits for those switching from smoking to vaping.
Last month, an evidence review published by Public Health England concluded vaping posed only a small fraction of the risks of smoking, and making the switch could deliver substantial health benefits to smokers.
An earlier report, by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, found vaping was "at least 95% less harmful'' than smoking, and of "negligible risk'' to bystanders.
Ms Carty said Dunedin and the rest of the country had just seven years left to meet its national Smokefree 2025 goals.
E-cigarettes were a useful smoking cessation tool, but they should be promoted as such, rather than seen as a way to switch "to vaping forever''.
The council could also do more to create new smokefree areas in Dunedin, including at beaches, outdoor dining areas, the CBD and streets, and even in council-owned flats.
Ms Carty also urged the council to consider health professionals' views when it came to city planning, saying good urban design and smokefree areas "go hand-in-hand''.
"I think there's space to move in all of those areas, and there's high public support as well.''