AN East Lancashire e-cigarette seller has called for rules to stop people ‘putting rubbish’ in e-cigs.

The worker at Blackburn firm Smokers World spoke after research carried out by a New York cancer institute found high-voltage e-cigarettes ‘may expose users to increased levels of toxic chemicals, including formaldehyde and acetalde-hyde’.

And four out of 10 doctors survey-ed in a poll said they believed e-cigarette users - or ‘vapers’ - should only be able to buy them over the counter.

The survey, by doctors.net.uk, also found that 13 per cent of doctors think e-cigs should be available on prescription only.

Smokers World, in Blackburn, which sells a wide range of tobacco products as well as e-cig alternatives.

A spokesman said: “The products are so new, and there are no regulations. There are lots of inferior products out there. Nobody knows what effect it will have on the lungs, but people have said it causes them to wheeze. I have seen people go back to cigarettes because they were getting addicted to the liquid.

"There needs to be regulation to stop people putting rubbish in e-cigarettes, but if they were made prescription-only medicines the price would be forced up.”

Dr Maciej Goniewicz, from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, said: “Some types of electronic cigarettes might expose their users to the same or even higher levels of carcinogenic formaldehyde than tobacco smoke.”

Dr Tom Smith, the Telegraph’s health columnist, said: “It’s all very well saying e-cigarettes are much safer, but you’re still inhaling nicotine which is quite a poison. There’s a good basis for suggesting they should be regulated and come with warnings.”