[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16677-16678]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF BANNING THE USE OF ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES ON AIRPLANES 
                              ACT OF 2015

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 27, 2015

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Banning the Use of 
Electronic Cigarettes on Airplanes Act of 2015. 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 Federal Aviation 
Administration (FAA) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in 
2011 ban the use of these devices, but four years later, no progress 
has been made. Therefore, Congress should step in to legislatively 
resolve the issue.
  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 on the market 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 many 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 like with traditional tobacco products.
  This year we celebrate 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 flight 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 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 2011, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued its NPRM to 
prohibit the use of e-cigarettes on U.S. airplanes. 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

[[Page 16678]]

that such devices only be carried in the aircraft cabins because of 
safety issues. It is up to individual airlines to ban their use. Some 
airlines have already taken the initiative to institute a ban on the 
use of electronic cigarettes, but legislation is necessary to make this 
update applicable to all airlines, and permanent.
  The current 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 2015 will amend the statutory definition of smoking located 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.

                          ____________________