USA States Self-extinguishing Cigarettes Becoming the Norm..

January 8, 2009 - By the end of 2009, 14 states will join the 18 that already require vendors to purchase and sell only the fire-safe cigarettes, which are designed to go out if they are dropped or set aside, said Lorraine Carli, vice president of communications at the National Fire Protection Association and the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes.

States are circumventing more than 30 years of tobacco industry opposition to federal safe cigarette legislation (1st proposed in 1974) by passing their own laws that require the sale of self-extinguishing cigarettes. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., introduced federal fire-safe cigarette legislation in 2005 and Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., did so in 2006, according to Jessica Schafer, Markey's director of communications. She said the legislation was met with strong opposition from lobbying firms, and given the success at the state level, there is no plan to reintroduce it.

According to the U.S. Fire Administration, almost 1,000 smokers and non-smokers die annually in home fires caused by cigarettes and other smoking products. New York's 2004 fire-safe cigarettes law was the first. Lauren Rivera, with the New York Department of State, said in 2004 there were 31 smoking-related fire deaths. By 2006, the most recent data available, that number had dropped to 22.

David Howard, spokesperson for R.J. Reynolds stated they will start making all of its cigarettes fire-safe by the end of 2009. (NFPA applauds Reynolds American Inc. announcement of product-wide switch to “fire-safe” cigarettes Urges other tobacco companies to follow, National Fire Protection Assoc. 10/25/2007) Phillip Morris USA, the largest tobacco company, will not make all of its cigarettes fire-safe, but will "continue to work with the states," said spokesman David Sutton. Liggett Group, announced on March 25, 2008 that it will convert all of its domestic (US) cigarette production standards to meet all state fire safety standards by January 2009.

Fire-safe cigarettes may provide further incentive to once and for all stop smoking.

Reference: States push fire-safe cigarettes by Andrew Seaman, USA Today, 1/5/2009.

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