A POOLE vape shop owner has hit back over claims by a leading health professor that England's public health authority is ignoring mounting evidence on the 'harmful effects of e-cigarettes'.

The owner runs one of Bournemouth and Poole's 20 vape shops and claims the comments by Martin McKee, professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, that the UK was "out of step" with other parts of the world when it came to messages around the safety of vaping, are, in his opinion, 'wrong'.

'I'd be very interested to view in full the research material that this person was referencing in order to arrive at their decision," he said.

He claimed that some studies published in the past four years had made what he described as 'erroneous statements' about vaping.

Professor McKee said San Francisco had adopted a "sensible" policy in moving to ban e-cigarettes until their health effects are fully evaluated by the US government and that the US

had also launched a drive to warn teenagers of the dangers of nicotine addiction from vaping.

His comments were echoed by Dr Aaron Scott, from the University of Birmingham, who urged caution over e-cigarette use after his research showed they damaged lung tissue.

In an interview Prof McKee said Public Health England "seems to be doing everything it can to promote e-cigarettes" and was choosing to ignore warnings over the risks.

"The nicotine in e-cigarettes is not a harmless drug and then there all these other things such as flavourings that are inhaled," he said.

"We haven't had e-cigarettes for long enough to know the true effects but when we look at the evidence we do have, there's enough grounds for serious concerns. Given the short-term effects on lung function and cardiovascular effects, there is enough evidence to say we should be very, very careful."

PHE's south western office said: "We are alert to the risks and the UK has taken a careful approach to maximise the opportunities that e-cigarettes present to help more smokers quit. The UK has some of the world's strictest e-cigarette regulations including advertising restrictions, minimum age of sale and maximum nicotine content. Approaches similar to ours have been adopted by Canada and New Zealand, both of whom had previously banned e-cigarettes.

It has campaigned for cigarette smokers to switch to e-cigarettes, claiming they are 95 per cent less harmful than tobacco smoking - a figure disputed by many health experts including Prof McKee who said PHE had failed to adequately show that e-cigarettes are an effective quitting aid and was ignoring evidence that they cause damage in their own right.

"First of all, you've got to show that they're safe," he said. "New products shouldn't be introduced without showing that to be the case."

The Poole vape shop owner disputed his comments.

“We have very stringent laws within the UK as part of the European Tobacco Products Directive Article 20, that came into force in May 2017, about certain things like types of sweeteners and flavourings," he said. "There are many things you'd find in e-liquid in other parts of the world which you simply wouldn’t find in liquid sold in the UK because of concerns and I’d say that this concern may be more valid in some parts of the world than here."