Everyday lithium laptop batteries at center of debate about cargo handling

Now the Department of Transportation wants to toughen rules for how the laptop batteries -- and devices containing them -- are shipped on cargo planes. And it's a testament to the ubiquity of the lithium-ion battery that the dispute over the transportation proposal has now embroiled everyone from trade partners such as Israel and South Korea to airline pilots, medical device makers and the National Funeral Directors Association. Lithium-ion batteries have skyrocketed in popularity because they're lighter and smaller than other batteries. Policymakers have since turned their attention to shipments of these batteries, especially after a 2006 incident at Philadelphia International Airport in which a UPS cargo plane containing lithium batteries caught fire. Regulators currently consider any package containing a lithium-ion battery to be hazardous but exempt small batteries, such as those contained in cellphones. The funeral directors group says the proposed regulations would affect their industry, as well, because many deceased that are flown to funerals have pacemakers and defibrillators, which also contain the batteries. Because many of the affected devices are flown around the world, the proposed rules have also raised the alarm of some U.S. trade partners, who are worried the rules could act as an unfair trade barrier, since many products would be harder to ship via air to the United States. "The proposed regulation would threaten the ability to import into the United States batteries and -- more significantly -- products using those batteries, such as medical devices and water meters," said a letter to DOT submitted by Israel's Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor.