Well, I have made several of these and had one featured in the Woodturning Magazine of winter 2016, I am not aware of any such bans. It can be a dangerous technique if not handled properly, my own equipment is double switched and runs from a dual pole socket with lights to inidcate a live state and the transformer is in a sealed box, nevertheless, I agree it is a dangerous method if you don't take proper precautions. I don't think you could achieve the same thing with carving tools unless A: you were an e4xcellent carvfer and B: you had an incredible set of carving chisels.