Dear Secretary Foxx:
We are writing to you with great concern about protecting consumer health on commercial flights. While many major carriers have decided to prohibit the use of electronic cigarettes, federal regulations still allow these products to be used during flight.
The Department of Transportation first published proposed rules to prohibit the use of electronic cigarettes on aircraft on Sept. 15, 2011 (Docket No. DOT-OST-2011-0044). This rule when finalized will ban the smoking of electronic cigarettes on both domestic and foreign air carriers to and from the United States. It is unacceptable that it has been more than two years and this rule has yet to be finalized.
As the Department’s own preamble in 2011 noted, “Releasing a vapor that may contain harmful substances or respiratory irritants in a confined space, especially to those who are at a higher risk, is contrary to the purpose and intent of the statutory and regulatory ban on smoking aboard aircraft." It also notes that the purpose of such a regulation “is to prevent introduction of a new potential source of contamination to the cabin environment that could potentially endanger the welfare of nonsmokers who are now protected from all such exposure."
Numerous electronic cigarette companies have marketed their products as offering the freedom to break the rules or smoke in places where traditional cigarettes are banned, such as airplanes. We have attached some examples of past advertisements that feature or imply the use of electronic cigarettes on airplanes.
Please act immediately to finalize these rules, and respond with an exact date when regulations will be published and when electronic cigarettes will finally be banned on commercial flights.
Sincerely,
Tom Harkin
United States Senator
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator
Barbara Boxer
United States Senator
Richard Blumenthal
United States Senator
Sherrod Brown
United States Senator
Jack Reed
United States Senator
Edward J. Markey
United States Senator
