Smokers just can't get a puff: e-fags take flak

All electronic cigarettes on sale in Britain would be banned under new European Union proposals.

Members of the European Parliament voted not to outlaw the cigarettes, but EU officials fear that there is a "risk that electronic cigarettes can develop into a gateway to normal cigarettes".

According to a confidential EU report, it wants to include the smoke-free alternative under a new EU "tobacco products directive" - despite the fact that the cigarettes contain no tobacco.

The attempt to ban e-cigarettes drew anger from suppliers in Britain, where 1.3million people have switched to the devices.

Fraser Cropper, CEO of Totally Wicked, an e-cigarette supplier based in Lancashire, said: "Behind closed doors in Brussels, unaccountable and unelected bureaucrats are drafting proposals that will deny millions of existing and former smokers access to a safer alternative to tobacco cigarettes."

A town in northern France has become the first to impose a ban on electronic cigarettes in public buildings.

François Digard, mayor of Saint-Lo in the La Manche region of Normandy, passed a decree this month outlawing them.

France, which has an estimated 1.5million e-cigarette users, is mulling a ban, but the mayor apparently decided to jump the gun after several nonsmokers said they were unhappy about the devices being smoked in public libraries.

"The e-cigarette is not neutral in the immediate environment. With it emitting odour and a bit of smoke it can really bother some people," Digard said in an interview.

As cigarette smoking has been increasingly stigmatised, the sale of electronic cigarettes has risen dramatically.

E-cigarettes consist of a battery, a cartridge containing nicotine, a solution of propylene glycol or glycerine mixed with water, and an atomiser to turn the solution into a vapour.

The nicotine is delivered without a flame and without tobacco or tar, and e-cigarette users describe the experience as "vaping" rather than smoking.

The electronic cigarettes are widely considered a healthier alternative to tobacco, but the Netherlands Institute for Public Health and the Environment published a policy paper this week claiming that e-cigarettes were as harmful as ordinary cigarettes. It said that they were addictive and contained poisonous substances.