Electronic cigarettes

DOT: Electronic cigarettes prohibited on airplanes.
The AP (2/11, Felberbaum) reported, "The US Department of Transportation says the use of smokeless electronic cigarettes on airplanes is prohibited and plans to issue an official ban this spring," according to a letter from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood obtained by the AP. The future of e-cigarettes, however, is "likely to be decided" by the Food and Drug Administration. The agency "lost a court case last year after trying to treat e-cigarettes as drug-delivery devices, rather than tobacco products, because e-cigarettes heat nicotine extracted from tobacco." Notably, about 40 percent of the "nearly 46-million Americans" who smoke cigarettes "try to quit each year," according to CDC data.