E-Cigarettes, Deemed Flight Safety Risk, Banned From Checked Bags

A new safety rule that prohibits air travelers and crew members from carrying e-cigarettes and other battery-powered portable electronic smoking devices in their checked baggage was announced earlier this week.

“We know from recent incidents that e-cigarettes in checked bags can catch fire during transport,” U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement. “Fire hazards in flight are particularly dangerous. Banning e-cigarettes from checked bags is a prudent safety measure.”

The interim final rule, issued on Monday by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, applies to e-cigarettes, battery-powered devices that simulate tobacco smoking by producing heated vapors, which resembles smoke, as well as similar items like e-cigs, e-cigars, e-hookahs, e-pipes, personal vaporizers, and electronic nicotine delivery systems.

The new rule, which also prohibits the charging of such devices and their batteries on board the aircraft, aims to prevent putting the flying public at risk and is partially in response to recent smoke and fire incidents involving e-cigarettes in passenger baggage, Marie-Therese Dominguez, PHMSA’s administrator, wrote this week on Fast Lane, the official blog of the U.S. Department of Transportation, citing several examples:

-On August 9, 2014, at Boston’s Logan Airport, an e-cigarette in a passenger’s checked bag in the cargo hold of a passenger aircraft caused a fire that forced an evacuation of the aircraft.

-On January 4, 2015, at Los Angeles International Airport, a checked bag was found to be on fire in a baggage area. Emergency responders attributed the fire to an overheated e-cigarette.

These and several other incidents “have shown that e-cigarettes can overheat and cause fires when the heating element is accidentally activated or left on,” Dominguez said.

Resource :- http://www.forbes.com

Related Links :- Electronic Cigarette Batteries