[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 105 (Tuesday, June 20, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E853-E854]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF BANNING THE USE OF ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES ON AIRPLANES 
                              ACT OF 2017

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 20, 2017

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Banning the Use of 
Electronic Cigarettes on Airplanes Act of 2017. The bill prohibits the 
use of electronic cigarettes and vaping devices on commercial airplanes 
by including use of these devices within the definition of smoking. 
Smoking tobacco products on commercial airplanes has been banned for 
years, but with the increase in use of electronic cigarettes and vaping 
devices in their place, it is necessary to update our laws to reflect 
this new nuisance and health risk on airplanes. The U.S. Department of 
Transportation (DOT) issued a final rule in March 2016 banning the use 
of these devices on airplanes, but Congress should make a permanent, 
statutory change to include the use of these devices within the 
definition of ``smoking.'' Last Congress, my bill received bipartisan 
support from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
and was added as an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration 
(FAA) reauthorization bill, the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and 
Reauthorization (AIRR) Act. The amendment was also included in the 
Senate's long-term FAA reauthorization bill.
  Electronic cigarette use has increased over the last decade with the 
increased education of the general public about the dangers and public 
health threats caused by traditional cigarettes to smokers and 
nonsmokers alike. For example, between 2010 and 2011, e-cigarette use 
among adults doubled. Researchers and public health experts have voiced 
concerns over the use of electronic cigarettes because there are still 
so many unknowns about the chemicals these devices can produce. The 
American Lung Association (ALA) has cited many concerns about the lack 
of regulation of e-cigarettes because they are being marketed to the 
public while the potential harm from secondhand e-cigarette emissions 
is unknown. ALA has identified two studies that show formaldehyde, 
acetaldehyde, benzene, tobacco-specific nitrosamines, and other harmful 
irritants coming from e-cigarette emissions. In addition, the 
temperature of an e-cigarette can affect how harmful the chemicals are, 
but with no configuration standards, it is too difficult to uniformly 
assess the health effects of smoking e-cigarettes. The Food and Drug 
Administration (FDA) issued a proposed rule in 2014 that would extend 
new regulatory authority to e-cigarettes by subjecting e-cigarettes to 
registration and product listing requirements, restrictions on 
marketing products prior to FDA review, and a prohibition on providing 
free samples as with traditional tobacco products.
  It has been over 25 years since legislation was passed banning 
smoking on domestic flights in the United States. In the 1960s, the 
U.S. Surgeon General identified smoking as a cause of increased 
mortality and by 1986, the U.S. Surgeon General had named secondhand 
smoke a serious health risk. The National Academy of Sciences, in its 
report ``The Airliner Cabin Environment: Air Quality and Safety,'' 
recommended a ban on smoking on all domestic commercial flights. The 
Association of Flight Attendants can be credited with urging the 
smoking ban due to the negative health impacts flights attendants 
suffered working in cramped, closed-off spaces when a third or more 
passengers smoked in-flight. Congress used this information to include 
an amendment authored by then-Representative Dick Durbin (D-IL) in the 
Federal Aviation Act that made domestic flights of two hours or less 
smoke-free. By 1990, this smoking ban was

[[Page E854]]

extended to all domestic flights of six hours or less, and, in 2000, 
the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act made all flights 
to and from the United States smoke-free. All of this was done even in 
the face of the strong tobacco industry's opposition because of the 
undeniable health impacts of cigarettes and cigarette smoke. Many 
flyers do not remember a time without ``No Smoking'' signs located 
throughout a commercial airplane.
  In 2016, DOT issued its final rule to prohibit the use of e-
cigarettes on U.S. airplanes. Legislation is necessary to make this 
update applicable to all airlines, and permanent. Under current FAA 
policy, battery-powered electronic cigarettes, vaporizers, vape pens, 
atomizers, and electronic nicotine systems are prohibited in checked 
baggage, and the FAA recommends that such devices only be carried in 
the aircraft cabins because of safety issues.
  The current statutory smoking ban applies to the smoking of tobacco 
products on all scheduled passenger flights and on scheduled passenger 
flight segments on foreign air carriers in the U.S. and between the 
U.S. and foreign countries, unless a waiver is granted based on 
bilateral negotiations. The Banning the Use of Electronic Cigarettes on 
Airplanes Act of 2017 will amend the statutory definition of smoking in 
49 U.S.C. 41706 to include the use of electronic cigarettes, defined as 
``a device that delivers nicotine or other substances to a user of the 
device in the form of a vapor that is inhaled to simulate the 
experience of smoking.''
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill.

                          ____________________