Think tank challenges ban on using e-cigs during flights

The Hill reports on CEI's legal challenge to the Department of Transportation's ban of electronic cigarettes on airplanes, and discusses the case with Marc Scribner.  

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association are suing the Department of Transportation (DOT) over the regulation, which was published in March and prohibits passengers from using e-cigarettes while onboard planes.

“Congress made clear that its anti-smoking ban applies to combusted tobacco products and smoke, neither of which have anything to do with the use of e-cigarettes,” said Marc Scribner, a fellow at CEI. “The DOT’s attempt to illegally rewrite the law poses a far greater danger to the traveling public than e-cigarette vapor.”

The challengers’ opening brief against the regulation was filed late Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and the DOT will offer a response by Sept. 7.

The DOT has maintained that the rule was meant to clarify any confusion about smoking and vaping on planes, since most airlines had already voluntarily prohibited the use of e-cigarettes during flights.

But that’s why CEI has said the DOT rule was unnecessary. The group also argues that the DOT has not offered any evidence that e-cigarettes harm a passenger’s health.

Read the full article at The Hill.