E-cigarettes are far less harmful than tobacco products, a study appears to confirm.

While vaporizers are touted as 'safe', health experts warn we still don't have enough evidence to say that for certain.

But a new set of experiments performed in the UK have shown lung tissue is barely affected at all by e-cigarettes - compared to the crippling affect cigarette smoke has one our organs.

Lungs exposed to tobacco suffered changes in 123 genes - mutating cells in a way that creates fertile ground for heart disease, inflammation, and even tumor growth.

Meanwhile just two genes were affected in lungs exposed to e-cigarette vapor.

Research by the British American Tobacco R&D Center found lungs exposed to e-cigarettes suffered two gene mutations - compared to the 123 genes changed by exposure to tobacco

The products still carry a danger - two genes is more than none, and a study last week e-cigarette users have a higher risk of heart disease than non-users, due to higher levels of inflammation.

However, lead author Anisha Banerjee of the British American Tobacco R&D Center insists it is time we universally acknowledge the safety of vaporizers in contrast with cigarettes.

To investigate the impact of e-cigarettes versus cigarettes, the researchers used a groundbreaking new kind of lung model.

Using cultured human airway cells, they managed to build 3D models that mimic the precise structure of human lung tissue.

These models were exposed to two kinds of smoke - cigarette smoke and e-cigarette vapor from Vype ePen, a commercially available e-cigarette.

To mimic human smoking, the cells were exposed to the substance for five minutes at a time, with a 30-minute break in between, over a period of two hours and 20 minutes.

The cells were then allowed to rest for 24 hours and 48 hours following exposure, to allow the effects to set in.

Finally, they tested the cells.

To test them, the researchers used state-of-the-art 'next generation sequencing' of DNA and RNA molecules to identify any disturbance to the process that would signal changes in gene or protein expression.

The results revealed human lung cells exposed to cigarette smoke exhibit higher number of gene expression changes compared to e-cigarette vapor.

Cigarette smoke affected immune responses, oxidative stress and inflammation, which were not observed on exposure to e-cigarette vapor.

The results are published in Applied In Vitro Toxicology as part of a special issue on Next Generation Nicotine Products.

Many in the public health community believe e-cigarettes offer great potential for reducing the public health impact of smoking.

Public Health England, an executive body of the UK Department of Health, recently published a report saying that the current expert estimate is that using e-cigarettes is around 95 percent safer than smoking cigarettes.

The Royal College of Physicians have said that the public can be reassured that e-cigarettes are much safer than smoking and that they should be widely promoted as an alternative to cigarettes.