(Image: YouTube)
During a hearing on Thursday, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) used a nicotine vaporizer in order to protest the proposed ban of e-cigarettes on all air travel.
The Hill reports Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said that her amendment, which would categorize e-cigarettes the same way as regular tobacco products, is “in keeping with existing policy that there is no smoking on airlines today.”
Hunter exhaled vapor from his e-cigarette and then stated:
This is called a vaporizer. There's no combustion. There's no carcinogens. Smoking has gone down as the use of vaporizers has gone up. There is no burning. There is nothing noxious about this whatsoever. This has helped thousands of people quit smoking. It's helped me quit smoking.
The bill putting the Federal Aviation Administration policy in place was approved by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in a close 33-26 vote.
Committee chairman Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) did not agree with the legislation.
Shuster commented, “The next thing we're going to do is we're going to ban hot air, we're going to ban bad breath and we're going to ban body odor," Shuster joked. "Do you think we're really going to go there?”
This is not the first time Hunter has voiced his disagreement with legislation restricting nicotine vaporizer use. He wrote a letter to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) saying the vaporizers might “very well save my life” as well as the lives of thousands of others who have made the switch from regular tobacco products to vaporizers.
To see the video of Hunter vaping and his full comments, watch below: