TENS of thousands of people will die every year if new legislation is passed re-classifying e-cigarettes as medicines, European MP Chris Davies warned.

Mr Davies spoke at Blackburn company Totally Wicked, an e-cigarette manufacturer and retailer, after the government’s medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency announced plans for new restrictions.

The proposals would ban products not authorised under the Medicinal Products Direction - which e-cigarettes are not.

Speaking during yesterday’s visit, Mr Davies said: “The fact is that these e-cigarettes are a complete game changer when it comes to saving lives.

“Tens of thousands of people can live longer in this country each year, people who are addicted to smoking, if they turn to the use of this product.”

Linda Holden, 33, has been using e-cigarettes for three months because she wanted to stop smoking.

She said: “I haven’t smoked since. My husband is the same. I think the proposal is just rubbish. If they ban e-cigarettes I would probably go back to cigarettes.”

Totally Wicked said it did not sell to under 18s and would welcome legislation making it illegal. It said it promoted its products as recreational and ‘safer’ alternatives to cigarettes and not as a medicinal aid.

Director Jason Cropper asked why the European Parliament was not acting to ban cigarettes.

He said: “700,000 people are dying in the European Union every year through cigarettes.

“We could take 50 per cent of those people off them. Not only are we saving 350,000 lives a year, we’re also relieving people of potential cancer, we’re helping people’s asthma disappear, helping people’s blood pressure lower.

“If I brought this product on the market and it killed one person I’d be locked up in prison. Yet they will go nowhere near the cigarette. It’s madness. It’s crazy.”

Dr Tom Smith, the Lancashire 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.”