E-cigarettes face ban on U.S. airline flights

The government wants to ban electronic cigarettes on airline flights because of concerns about health risks from the vapors.

The Transportation Department is proposing the ban in a rule being published today in the Federal Register, the first step in government regulation.

Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, don't burn tobacco. The battery-operated devices offer users a vapor of liquid ingredients, including nicotine.

But the department points to a lack of research into the devices' ingredients that could irritate passengers' eyes and throats as justification for the proposed ban.

"Airline passengers have rights, and this rule would enhance passenger comfort and reduce any confusion surrounding the use of electronic cigarettes in flight," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says.

But Ray Story, chief executive of the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association, says the effort is unfair while the possible risks of his products are unproven.

Story claims that competitors that make regular cigarettes and products such as nicotine gum or patches were behind the proposed rule.

"Honestly, it's just insane," Story says. "It clearly shows to me that it's motivated by whoever is pulling the biggest purse strings: big tobacco, big pharmaceutical."

A federal ban on smoking in airplanes became law in April 2000. But smoking continues on charter flights.