A 57-year-old Briton, Terry Miller, pictured with his wife Glynis, is the world's first known victim of lipoid pneumonia likely caused by vaping

A 57-year-old British factory worker has today been named as the first e-cigarette user in the world feared to have developed a fatal disease directly linked to his vaping habit.

Terry Miller, 57, from Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, died nine years ago after developing lipoid pneumonia and doctors said oil from vaping fluid was found in his lungs.

He swapped his packet-a-day smoking habit for vaping and died of lung disease eight months later.

His wife Glynis believes her husband's death in 2010 was hastened by his use of e-cigarettes - claiming he was better off still smoking - and said: 'Who says they are safe? It lulls people into a false sense of security'.

She added: 'If he hadn't have used the e-cigarette and carried on smoking he would have been in ill health but he would have lasted a lot longer. I don't think he would have died at the age of 57'.

Five weeks and five days after he fell ill, the former factory worker died at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Gateshead on August 7 2010 - the couple's 39th wedding anniversary.

His widow says Public Health England does not have the evidence to back up its claim about the safety of e-cigarettes, which are used by 3million people in Britain, and claims more research into side-effects is needed urgently.

She said: 'I see kids using them and I think, 'Oh my god you don't know what you are taking into your body!'. I cringe when I see vape shops. How can there be a licence to do this without the research?'.

Mr Miller's wife is among those calling for a new inquest into his death after the first one in 2010 recorded an open verdict

Debate over how harmful vaping is leads to confusion E-cigarettes have the potential to benefit some people, by helping them quit smoking. But scientists still have a lot to learn about whether e-cigarettes are truly effective for quitting smoking and what the long-term risks are. Nicotine is already known to be highly addictive and harm adolescent brain development, which continues into the early to mid-20s. E-cigarettes produce an aerosol by heating a liquid that usually contains nicotine. Aerosol is inhaled into the lungs and can contain potentially harmful substances, including heavy metals like lead, volatile organic compounds, and cancer-causing agents. US health officials, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), are investigating an outbreak of e-cigarette or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI). The mystery illness has swept across the states. Officials have identified Vitamin E acetate as a chemical of concern. THC is present in most of the fluid samples collected from the lungs of ill people, and most patients report a history of using THC-containing e-cigarette, or vaping, products. 'Popcorn lung' is the nickname for bronchiolitis obliterans, a condition which damages the smallest airways in the lungs and has been linked to people with vaping-related breathing problems. However, there’s no good evidence that e-cigarettes could cause the lung condition, according to Cancer Research UK. The flavourings in electronic cigarettes may damage blood vessels in the same way as heart disease, according to research published in June 2018. The chemicals used to give the vapour flavours, such as cinnamon, strawberry and banana, can cause inflammation in cells in the arteries, veins and heart. They cause the body to react in a way that mimics the early signs of heart disease, heart attacks or strokes, the study by Boston University found. Other recent studies have also suggested smoking e-cigarettes could cause DNA mutations which lead to cancer, and enable pneumonia-causing bacteria to stick to the lungs easier. Researchers at New York University subjected human bladder and lung cells to e-cigarette vapor, which is marketed as being healthier than tobacco. They found the cells mutated and became cancerous much faster than expected and mice exposed to the vapour also suffered significant DNA damage. In another study, scientists at Queen Mary University, London, found vaping makes users more likely to catch pneumonia – just like smoking tobacco or breathing in traffic fumes. The vapour from e-cigarettes helps bacteria which cause the condition to stick to the cells that line the airways, they said. The effect occurs with traditional cigarette smoke and those who are exposed to air pollution high in particulates from vehicle exhausts. An April 20202 study found vaping damages the arteries and blood vessel function much like smoking traditional cigarettes. The team studied measures of blood vessel function in e-cigarette and dual users who had been using e-cigarettes for at least three months. All e-cigarette users were former cigarette smokers. Advertisement

Her husband's case has been highlighted as a report from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said vaping hit the health of 200 British e-cigarette users since 2014.

In America health officials keep a state-by-state register of vaping-related illnesses and says 13 people have died in 2019 due to vaping and more than 800 have fallen ill.

Experts say that vaping should be considered far less harmful than smoking.

The adverse effects are feared to include heart problems, chest pains and pneumonia, the dossier claims, with experts demanding the health of those who vape be more carefully recorded.

Today there are calls for a new inquest into Mr Miller's death after the first one in 2010 recorded an open verdict.

After smoking around 20 cigarettes a day for 41 years, Terry Miller decided to give up and bought an e-cigarette from his local pharmacy, believing it was an healthier option.

The 57-year-old began vaping every day and would often buy nicotine liquid refills and new e-cigarettes on the internet from a company based in the south of England.

Around eight months after he switched to vaping in 2010, Terry's lungs began to fail and he was diagnosed with fibrosis.

Former foster carer Glynis said that doctors discovered, during a lung wash, that there was oil in Terry's lungs.

During an inquest into his death, held at Gateshead Coroner's Court in 2011, an open verdict was recorded.

But a doctor, who treated him, said he believed his death could be associated with his use of the e-cigarettes and called for more research to be done.

Nine years on from his death, his widow Glynis, 66, is still desperate for research to be carried out into the dangers of vaping. The great-grandmother, from Gateshead, said: 'They took him to theatre and did something called a lung wash and they found oil in his lungs.

'I knew then it was something to do with vaping. It could only have got in his lungs because he inhaled it through the e-cigarette. The doctor agreed with me.

'It did take me a long time to come to terms with the fact he was gone. I felt quite angry because he had swapped the dangerous habit of smoking for something that was a healthier option'.

Glynis, who gave up smoking when she was 37, said she found out about e-cigarettes from a college friend and told Terry about them.

She said: 'For the last two to three years of him smoking he had made attempts to give up. He had tried lozenges, he had tried the patch. I was at night college and a girl I was doing a foundation degree with had one. It must have been an early e-cigarette, you got it from the chemist.

'I was talking to Terry about it and so he decided to buy one. 'He thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, he thought it was brilliant. He viewed it as giving up smoking, but I saw it as swapping cigarettes for e-cigarettes.

'It was sold to you as though it were a healthier option. He would use the e-cigarette as if he was smoking 20 cigarettes a day. He always had it in his shirt pocked and he always had it with him'.

Eight months later, Terry started to suffer from a shortage of breath and pains in his body.

A doctor discovered that his oxygen levels had dropped to 76 per cent and provided him with an oxygen mask.

Glynis said she was not aware of how severe Terry's fibrosis was until eight hours before he died.

She has slammed Public Health England's claim that e-cigarettes are 95 per cent safer than cigarettes. Glynis added: 'I definitely think they advertise falsely by telling people they are safe when they've not backed it up with any research. Who says they are safe? I think people are easily fooled by the spiel.'

Vaping has been linked with 200 health problems including heart disorders, chest pains and pneumonia

Glynis said she isn't shocked by the recent cases which have emerged in the US. 'I'm not shocked by it but I'm surprised that it's taken this long. I wonder how many other cases there are that haven't been reported. I think thank God somebody is finally sitting up and taking notice, hopefully now something can be done about this. 'There isn't enough information out there'.

What are e-cigarettes and is it as dangerous as smoking? E-cigarettes heat a solution, called e-liquid, which typically contains nicotine, propylene glycol and/or vegetable glycerine, and flavourings. They do not contain tobacco or produce tar or carbon monoxide – 2 of the most damaging constituents in tobacco smoke, which you inhale from cigarettes. E-cigarettes are not completely risk-free, but experts estimate that vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking cigarettes. E-cigarette vapour contains some potentially harmful chemicals also found in tobacco smoke, but at much lower levels. Many people think nicotine is very harmful to health. In fact, although it is addictive, nicotine is relatively harmless: it's the thousands of other chemicals in tobacco smoke that cause almost all the harm from smoking. Source: NHS Advertisement

Hitting back at claims that smokers are better off avoiding vaping, NHS Professor John Newton said: 'Vaping has helped hundreds of thousands of smokers to quit tobacco.

'It isn't risk-free but it is far less harmful than smoking. It would be tragic if smokers who could quit with the help of an e-cigarette did not do so because of false fears about their safety.'

Terry Miller was named in the Sunday Times as the world's first victim of the deadly disease lipoid pneumonia likely due to vaping.

Doctors referred Mr Miller's death to an inquest after they found oil in his lungs. A coroner recorded an open verdict.

Dr Gareth Walters, a consultant in occupational and interstitial lung diseases at the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, said we cannot yet assess the risk because there is not enough information.

Vaping has been linked with 200 health problems including heart disorders, chest pains and pneumonia, an official dossier has revealed.

Health watchdog the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has recorded 74 reports of health problems suspected to have been caused by e-cigarettes since 2014.

Of the 74 cases, 49 were classified as 'serious'.

Experts are now calling for a national system to record every problem associated with e-cigarettes amid increasing concern over their safety, according to The Sunday Times.

They have already been banned in Brazil, India, Thailand and Singapore.

The MHRA insisted all health problems are reviewed and emphasised they are not concrete proof of the side effects of vaping.

But they said people reporting the ailments are attributing their problems to the e-cigarettes.

E-cigarette users have been advised to monitor their shortness of breath or any signs of coughing or fever.

Last week, the chief executive of vaping brand Juul, Kevin Burns, resigned amid growing fears around the popular e-cigarettes.

Last week, the chief executive of vaping brand Juul, Kevin Burns, resigned amid growing fears around the popular e-cigarettes

THIRTEEN Americans have died of vaping-linked illnesses THIS YEAR and 805 have severe lung damage as the numbers of those becoming sick continues to rocket

Hundreds more Americans have been reported to have a vaping-related breathing illness, and the death toll has risen to 13, health officials have said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 805 confirmed and probable cases have been reported, up 52 per cent from the 530 reported a week ago.

At this point, illnesses have occurred in almost every state.

The confirmed deaths include two in California, two in Kansas, two in Oregon and one each in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Missouri.

The Mississippi death was announced by officials in that state Thursday and a second death in Oregon was revealed by authorities later in the day.

Vaping-linked illnesses have led to the deaths of 13 Americans in 10 states (red), the CDC said on Thursday. Another 805 are severely ill after using e-cigs, most of which contained THC

Over the summer, health officials in a few states began noticing reports of people developing severe breathing illnesses, with the lungs apparently reacting to a caustic substance.

The only common factor in the illnesses was that the patients had all recently vaped.

As a national investigation started and broadened, reports have increased dramatically.

The latest death was in Oregon and someone who had been hospitalized with respiratory symptoms after vaping cannabis products. In Florida, a vaper under the age of 30 marked the state's first vaping death

It's not clear how many of the 275 added cases occurred in the last week, and how many are being logged long after they happened. The CDC has not released details on when symptoms began in each case.

The agency's count includes only illnesses that have met certain criteria. Other illnesses are also being investigated.

Most patients have said they vaped products containing THC, the ingredient that produces a high in marijuana. The investigation has been increasingly focused on products containing THC, with some attention on ingredients added to marijuana oil.

But some patients have said they vaped only nicotine.

Currently, health officials are advising people not to use any vaping product until the cause is better understood.

The latest statistics come after Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Ned Sharpless admitted the agency 'must do more' to stop the deaths and teen addictions linked to vaping in his testimony before Congress Wednesday.

Although the outbreak of these mysterious illnesses began in the Midwest, the latest deaths have been concentrated around the South.

Nationwide, more than 800 cases of respiratory illness have been linked to vaping. Juul is a the maker of some of the popular e-cigarettes and has come under fire from health officials

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday it's investigating some 1,000 possible cases of severe pneumonia-like illness traced to e-cigarette use, suggesting the 805 reported Thursday may be the tip of the iceberg.

Sharplesss said that the FDA will not 'ban' flavored e-cigs - but will soon finalize rules to force companies to take these products off the market until they've gone through and been green-lighted by the FDA's pre-market approval process.

He added that, while most of the lung injuries are linked to THC vapes, health officials have not identified a single consistent cause between them.

CDC Deputy Director Ann Schuchat said Wednesday before Congress there will 'probably be hundreds' more cases.

Working with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the FDA is trying to trace the vapes that have made people sick to their sources and intend to press criminal charges against their makers - but not against users.

'FDA is not pursuing any actions associated with personal use of any vaping products, our interest is in the suppliers,' said Sharpless.

'But to be clear, if we determine that someone is manufacturing or distributing illicit, adulterated vaping products that caused illness and death for personal profit, we would consider that to be a criminal act.'

This week, a major bust was made by local law enforcement in Minnesota.

Police and health officials there seized some 77,000 illegal vape cartridges that contained THC - the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis - a haul worth an estimated $3.8 million.

Commissioner Sharpless said the second prong of the FDA's coming enforcement actions will be to try to stem the so-called 'teen vaping epidemic.'

Some one in four high school students have used e-cigarettes in the past month, according to the CDC's latest figures.

The most popular flavors among under age users are fruity, mint and menthol ones, and companies like Juul Labs are facing investigations into whether their sweet flavored vapes were intentionally marketed to children and teens.

A huge stash of nearly 77,000 illegal THC vapes in colorful packaging branded 'Dank Vapes' (pictured) was confiscated in Minnesota Monday by law enforcement officials as US health officials warned bootleg e-cigs may be to blame for hundreds of lung illnesses

Michigan and New York have temporarily banned flavored e-cigarettes and Massachusetts has halted the sale of all e-cigarettes for the next four months. Illinois is currently legislating a flavored e-cig ban.

Sharpless was careful to clarify that the FDA soon-to-come enforcement actions, which have been backed by President Trump, will not constitute a ban on flavored e-cigarettes.

'Rather, FDA intends to enforce existing law that limits the marketing of such products,' he said.

'This policy would not mean that flavored e-cigarettes could never be marketed.

'If a company can show through an application to FDA that a specific product meets the standard set forth by Congress, then the FDA would authorize that [e-cigarette] product for sale.'

But until then, the FDA will expect e-cigarette companies to pull their products from shelves.

Sharpless said that it is the 'FDA's intention to soon finalize a compliance policy related to flavored [e-cigarettes],' but did specify when 'soon' might be.