It's safe to pack the tweezers again

Knives, scissors, box cutters, corkscrews remain prohibited

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- It's OK to pack tweezers and nail files in carry-on luggage again, federal transportation security officials say, but air travelers still must leave sharp items at home.

The federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued an updated list of prohibited items Tuesday.

Transportation Security Administration head John Magaw made the announcement in front of a table stacked with hundreds of knives, scissors and items such as pepper spray confiscated from passengers at Baltimore-Washington International Airport in just the past week.

EXTRA INFORMATION Sharp items still are banned from air travel in the United States. Here's a list of prohibited articles  provided by the Transportation Security Administration.   THE SYSTEM Airport security: A system driven by the minimum wage PREVIOUS WARNINGS Warnings over airport security preceded attacks COMPARING U.S. TO EUROPE Outside the U.S., a different approach to air security SOLUTIONS Boosting security puts focus on government's role  GRAPHS & CHARTS  • Top 25 Airports  • Airport Security by Year  • Airline Security by Year  • Airport Wages

"What we want to do is encourage them not to bring these things forward so that we don't have to confiscate them," Magaw said.

Passengers may be happy to know that some personal items like tweezers, small nail clippers, nail files, safety razors and eyelash curlers are now off the prohibited list -- if they ever were on it.

Officials admit there was some inconsistency from airport to airport about what constituted a dangerous sharp object and what did not.

Most of these items can be packed in checked baggage, according to the TSA.

The TSA warned that in addition to criminal penalties, passengers who attempt to bring these items aboard an aircraft face fines of up to $1,100 per violation.

Magaw said the agency would not be responsible for mailing the banned items back to a passenger once they have been confiscated.

"There's been talk about can we put it in an envelope and mail it to them. But in looking just at some of this, it would take a full-time person every day doing just that," Magaw said.