Ban Electronic cigerettes from indoor use, WHO advises

Despite releasing vapour instead of smoke the devices, officially known as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), still carry a risk to those standing around users, a report for the Geneva-based UN organisation said.

In a report it said: “The fact that ENDS exhaled aerosol contains on average lower levels of toxicants than the emissions from combusted tobacco does not mean that these levels are acceptable to involuntarily exposed bystanders.

“In fact, exhaled aerosol is likely to increase above background levels the risk of disease to bystanders, especially in the case of some ENDS that produce toxicant levels in the range of that produced by some cigarettes.”

The report, to be discussed at October’s WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Moscow, also recommends preventing manufacturers from marketing e-cigs as “smoking cessation aids” until they provide scientific evidence to back the claim.

The report also says that they should be banned from sale to minors, and that vending machines should be removed “in almost all locations”.

Electronic cigarettes are currently regulated as consumer products in the UK but from 2016 any nicotine-containing products (NCPs) which make medicinal claims - such as claiming they are a stop-smoking aid - will be regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

The news comes after a Yorkshire barmaid narrowly escaped series injury when an e-cigarette exploded in flames in a packed pub and rocketed towards her.

Laura Baty, 18, was serving a customer when she heard a huge bang and saw the device shoot in her direction.

The flames singed her arms and set her dress on fire as she tried to get out of the way.

The sizzling e-cig - which had been on charge behind the bar - then landed on the floor and scorched the vinyl tiles before burning itself out.

Part of it also hit at customer at the Buck Inn Hotel in Richmond, North Yorkshire, and left him with a red mark in his stomach.

Laura said: “I was about to give somebody their change and I heard the bang. I could see the fire coming.”