In-Flight Vaping Ban Upheld

VapingPost covers CEI’s objection to a DOT vaping ban on airplanes.

In another blow to American vapers, the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association has failed in its attempt to strike down the Obama administration’s ban on vaping on aircraft. CASAA, together with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, argued that the decision to include vapour products in the existing federal smoking ban was based on the use of poor-quality science. They also raised the issue of whether the ban went beyond the FAA’s legal authority, and pointed out that an anti-smoking law was being used to ban products that produce no smoke.

Unfortunately the DC Circuit’s Court of Appeals wasn’t convinced, and in a two to one decision they upheld the FFA’s restriction. In an often confused ruling they admitted that the dictionary definition of smoke didn’t agree with the one the FAA was using, but decided that the ban could stand anyway. They also acknowledged that the science behind the law was flawed, but focused on a single controversial study to back the claim that second-hand vapour might be harmful to fellow passengers.

The one dissenter, Judge Douglas Ginsberg, highlighted the court’s inability to tally definitions. The CEI’s lawyer said after the judgement that any risk to airline passengers is “totally undemonstrated” and added a reminder that vaping and smoking are entirely different activities.

Read the full article at VapingPost.