Fire - Safe Cigarettes for all 50 states - NOW...

June 23, 2007 - Fire - Safe Cigarettes for all 50 states - NOW.. The Charleston, SC fire that took the lives of 9-firefighters may have been caused by a discarded lit cigarette. Texas legislators have mandated that all cigarettes sold in Texas by 2010 be designed to snuff out after the last puff. Why wait for 2010??? New York, which has required "fire-safe cigarettes" since 2004, was the trendsetter. Its legal standard has become the boilerplate for 15 other states, affecting nearly half of the American public. The cigarettes employ two or three bands of special paper that act as tiny firewalls to self-extinguish if the user isn't actively smoking. The only difference of opinion between the tobacco industry and fire safety activists seems to be what to call them. Cigarette makers don't like "fire-safe" because it implies a guarantee. They prefer "reduced ignition propensity cigarettes," often ironically shortened to "RIP cigarettes." Similar legislation is pending in an additional 15 states, including tobacco-centric North Carolina. Momentum is building in part because some in the industry support a national standard, although no federal action is forthcoming. Similar legislation is pending in an additional 15 states, including tobacco-centric North Carolina. According to a 2005 Harvard School of Public Health report, cited in Connecticut legislative research documents, the new cigarettes didn't affect prices or sales in New York. (Mark Babineck, Houston Chronicle)