California lawmakers will consider requiring that only “fire-safe” cigarettes designed to extinguish when left in ashtrays or dropped onto bedroom mattresses can be sold in the state.?? Legislation to be unveiled Monday comes nearly seven months after implementation of a similar standard in New York.
The goal is to save lives and property destroyed by fires ignited by cigarette butts that are carelessly or accidentally discarded.
“Pretty soon, it’s going to sweep the country,” predicted Steve Blackledge, legislative director for the California Public Interest Group. “It’s common sense and it’s safer for consumers.”
Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, has scheduled a news conference Monday to launch his legislation.
The technology already exists to produce cigarettes that largely self-extinguish, but manufacturers warn that it is not foolproof and can give smokers a false sense of security.
“Anything that burns and is handled in a careless manner represents a potential fire hazard if it comes in contact with flammable material,” the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. says in a written position statement about fire-safe cigarettes.
Fire-safe cigarettes are designed to taste no different, but some manufacturers fear there could be a backlash by smokers who, for example, place a cigarette in an ashtray to have a conversation and later find it extinguished.
The tobacco industry also has expressed concerns that fire-safe cigarettes, while no more toxic, could prompt changes in consumer behavior – perhaps puffing more frequently – that potentially could exacerbate health risks.
“There’s obviously no such thing as a safe cigarette,” said Jamie Drogin, spokeswoman for Philip Morris USA. “The safest thing for a person to do to reduce the health effects of smoking is to quit.”
Self-extinguishing cigarettes produced by Philip Morris rely on a “banded paper technology,” consisting of ridges in the paper that act like speed bumps in slowing, and eventually snuffing, the cigarette’s flame,
she said.
Drogin said she did not know precisely how many minutes a cigarette equipped with such technology remains lit when unattended.
In New York, Philip Morris has not hiked its cigarette prices in response to the banded-paper requirement, Drogin said.
The company feels that self-extinguishing requirements should be set by the federal government, not by states, so that companies aren’t faced someday with dozens of conflicting standards, Drogin said.
Smokers interviewed randomly Saturday in downtown Sacramento had mixed feelings about self-extinguishing cigarettes.
Maria Sacaluga, 60, said it might be a good thing if smokers got frustrated by cigarettes that died if not puffed enough.
“Anything to make it easier to stop smoking, I’m for it,” she said.?? But Carl Cooper, 54, doubts claims that taste would be unaffected.
“I don’t think it will (sell),” he said. “I think people will avoid
it.”
In California, Koretz’s legislation will use the same definition of fire-safe cigarettes that was adopted by New York, according to the bill’s sponsor, Andrew McGuire of the nonprofit Trauma Foundation at San Francisco General Hospital.
New York’s law is based on a test in which a lit cigarette is placed on 10 layers of laboratory filter paper and must extinguish before burning its entire depth. Brands cannot be sold if more than 25 percent of their cigarettes tested fail the test.
McGuire said fire-safe cigarettes come with no guarantees, but they are effective and can be invaluable in saving lives.
“If I were staying on the 14th floor of a (hotel) and someone passed out with a cigarette and started a fire, I think it’s in my best interest to have the cigarette be fire-safe,” he said.
Between 900 and 1,000 people die annually in the United States from cigarette-caused fires. An additional 2,500 to 3,000 people are injured, according to the American Burn Association.
In addition to being equipped with less porous paper, cigarettes can be made more fire-safe by using less dense tobacco, a smaller diameter and a filter tip, the burn association states in a report.
Koretz could not be reached for comment on his legislation.
New York adopted the nation’s first fire-safe cigarette law in 2000, but implementation was delayed until July.
Besides California, similar statutes are expected to be considered in Massachusetts, Maryland and numerous other states, McGuire said.
Legislative proposals to require fire-safe cigarettes have surfaced sporadically, and unsuccessfully, for more than two decades. Several futile attempts were made in California.
The tobacco industry has used a variety of arguments in years past to sidetrack such legislation, ranging from questions about the viability of fire-safe cigarettes to claims that no testing method properly predicted ignition propensity, according to a report in the Harvard Journal on Legislation.
Supporters claim prospects for passing such legislation have improved substantially, however, because of New York’s law and the tobacco industry’s success in developing banded cigarettes.
For more than four years, Philip Morris has used self-extinguishing technology, known as “PaperSelect,” on its Merit brand cigarettes sold nationwide.
Philip Morris reported a 19.6 percent drop in Merit sales nationwide the year after its banded paper was introduced.
Officials said a “significant portion” of the decline appeared to stem from consumer rejection of banded paper, though other factors may have contributed, including marketing support and an overall decline in cigarette consumption.
Drogin said the company has reached no final conclusions about smoker acceptance.
“We’re going to continue to evaluate (it) and refine the technology as needed,” she said.
The Bill: Require all cigarettes sold to be ‘fire-safe’
Originally written By: Jim Sanders
