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Saturday, October 21, 2017

CASAA Vaping on a Plane Redux

About 18 months ago I wrote CASAA: Vaping on a plane about the dangers of lithium ion batteries on airplanes as a result of a lengthy related forum discussion.  I got into a fight about a CASAA "call to action" where some legislator wanted no e-cigs on a plane.  While to CASAA this may have seemed like a "ban" attempt (and perhaps it was) the notion that e-cigarettes are safe on a plane is, in my opinion, the real issue.

They are not.
https://www.pinterest.com/vaperight/vaping/

Lithium ion batteries, especially in something like an unregulated mechanical mod, can take an airplane down.

My post concludes among other things:

"Unfortunately, though, nothing I wrote above gives me or many others in the world faith that vaping devices and batteries are “safe” in the context of something like an airplane cargo compartment."

Ultimately anyone promoting the use of vapes on a plane (and particularly the baggage checking of vaping devices) needs to understand the associated risk.  As I said in the original post - if there are no batteries in the devices they are perfectly safe on a plane.

Today there is this WSJ article.  It concludes

"The latest laboratory tests conducted by FAA experts found that in extreme circumstances, even a single seriously overheating laptop—packed inside a checked bag next to common but flammable consumer products including nail polish or aerosol sprays—can produce a blaze or explosion capable of disabling typical fire-suppression systems in cargo holds of passenger planes. As a result, safety experts have concluded it is safer to keep laptops in cabins, where a blaze can be identified quickly and dealt with more effectively."

and

"... concluded that keeping all laptops out of checked bags “is the simplest, most effective and most efficient option for addressing the identified safety risk.” [underline mine]

And recently I received this email from Efest (a vaping battery supplier):

"Good NEWS to you.

Here I`d like to share  two good news with you:

1. Efest batteries and chargers has passed FCC certificate, now all Efest batteries and chargers are authorized with  UL, CE, ROHS certification.

2. Efest batteries and chargers were COVERED BY GLOBAL INSURANCE  from 25th Sep 2017,that means all the orders after 25th Sep 2017 can get insurance.  So you can sell more Efest products without worries.

I`m writing to tell you that we back to work already. The peak season is continue , all Efest products are full in stock, please send me order list earlier if anything you need, we will ship them asap."

This implies safe shipping (as all the Chinese carriers are beholden to US-based carries like UPS and the USPS for shipping into the USA.

The difference between laptop batteries and a mod?  The laptop typically has thousands of test hours applied to its batteries and charging systems.  The mechanical mod you built last week?  Not so much...

At the end of the day CASAA was (and perhaps still is) way, way off base on this one.

The vaping community looks like a bunch of morons for not taking a stand on lithium ion battery safety in the very first place.

(Anyone not know a story of someone's mechanical "burning" something...?)

The FDA and others pay attention to accidents (not just planes but also burns, car accidents, etc.) that relate to batteries and, I assume, accidents in the context of vaping.

Even the Chinese get it now...

Efest has figured out that nobody at Efest wants the NTSB holding up an Efest battery during a crash investigation.

SEVIA, the Chinese vaping association, is probably involved too in some way as they send a lot of vaping equipment around the world on airplanes.

As for me?

I pay no attention to CASAA anymore.

Their time has long past.  To me the sorts of stances they take, this one in particular, make all vapers look like fools; and they are for following along and believing what their "leadership" says.

Making vaping objectively "safer," even if just on the battery front, is, or at least could have been, a useful FDA bargaining chip.

Alas, there isn't anyone in charge, no one to send the check to, no one to take the stance...

It's too late.

1 comment:

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