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Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate electronic cigarettes just as normal cigarettes are after a Wyandotte man was severely injured when a vapor pen exploded as he smoked it.

Dingell told WWJ/CBS Detroit questions remain unanswered about the safety of e-cigarettes and vapor pens, which deliver doses of nicotine or other additives, such as hookah, to users in the form of vapor.

“Your natural thought is, is it safe to inhale? But second, is it safe to light up? Could it explode? And most people … didn’t think they had to worry about it exploding and I was actually stunned to hear of the number of incidents that have occurred across the country,” Dingell said.

Jason Diekman, who survived tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, was recently hospitalized after a vapor pen he was smoking exploded, sending shrapnel into the wall and scorching his arm and part of his abdomen.

“I pushed it and it just exploded – a big boom louder than a shotgun going off,” Diekman told WJBK-TV.

The pen was still in Diekman’s hand when it exploded. “The thing just fired up out of my hands, hit the wall,” he said.

Diekman’s arm was scorched, he may have lasting nerve damage to his thumb and a part of his abdomen is black from burns, according to the report.

“It’s for real, like charred black,” he said. “Like charcoal.”

Diekman, who survived two combat tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq without injury, told WJBK ”it’s crazy” to make “it through all of that, come home and a vapor cigarette almost takes me out.”

Under regulations proposed by Dingell, electronic cigarette manufacturers would be required to disclose the ingredients in the products to the FDA. Diekman said there was nothing on the packaging indicating a danger.

“... None of these boxes have warnings saying they can explode in your hand or anything,” Diekman told WJBK. “That’s what you get - left with a bunch of bills and you know, ‘Sorry about your luck.’ “

In her letter to the FDA’s acting commissioner, Stephen Ostroff, Dingell said the lack of regulation is “unacceptable.”

“Consumers have a right to know the products they buy are safe and not ticking time bombs that could explode dangerously at any point. We are exploring both regulatory and legislative solutions to this problem to ensure Sgt. Diekman and other consumers have the protections they deserve. I encourage anyone who has experienced an adverse event while using an e-cigarette to submit the problem to the FDA’s Safety Reporting Portal. The FDA will use this information to help protect consumers from defective products and ensure proper oversight to protect public health.”

Diekman was lucky compared with some other people who have been injured while smoking an e-cigarette, billed as a safe alternative to regular tobacco cigarettes.

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