Congressman Vapes at Committee Hearing

Rep. Duncan Hunter really likes his vaporizer.

The California Republican busted out his vaporizer pen in a House Transportation Committee hearing today while debating an amendment from Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton that would formally ban the use of vaporizers and e-cigarettes on airplanes.

Hunter, in an effort to demonstrate the devices are safe to use, pulled his own vaporizer out and took a drag, blowing out a cloud of vaporized liquid. “This is called a vaporizer,” he explained, as his neighbor, Rep. Candace Miller waved the smoke away.

"There's no combustion, there's no carcinogens," Hunter added, saying that the device helped him quit smoking.

However, his efforts were for naught: The amendment ended up being passed by the committee.

“Despite the best efforts of Rep. Hunter, who came equipped with his vaping device and demonstrated its use, Members were not impressed enough to defeat my amendment,” Norton said in a statement. “The Member sitting next to Rep. Hunter even fanned away the smoke emitted from the vaporizer, illustrating my point about secondhand smoke.”

According to the Food and Drug Administration, the devices have not been fully studied, and it is not known how many harmful chemicals are being inhaled or whether there are any benefits to using the devices.

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