Fire Safer Cigs: IL ‘Fire-safe’ cigarettes

New law requires cigarettes to be self-extinguishing

5-19-06

SPRINGFIELD, (AP) — Cigarettes sold in Illinois beginning in 2008 will have to be designed to go out when not being smoked under a new law signed Friday.

The measure is aimed at reducing house fires, but opponents say “low-ignition” cigarettes give people a false sense of security.

Self-extinguishing cigarettes are wrapped in special paper that contain fire-retardant bands that snuff out the cigarette when it’s not puffed occasionally. Illinois joins New York, California, Vermont and Canada in mandating the special cigarettes.

Cigarette-ignited fires are the nation’s leading cause of home fire deaths, killing between 700 and 900 people each year, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

“Cigarettes that self-extinguish will help keep families all across the state safe from the kind of accidents that destroy homes and lives,” Gov. Rod Blagojevich said in a statement announcing he had signed the legislation.

But R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. says the cigarettes could cause people to be more careless while smoking because they are led to believe the cigarettes are safe.

The company says self-extinguishing cigarettes don’t “reduce the likelihood of ignition” when dropped on upholstery or fabrics, according to its Web site. Consumer education is more effective in reducing fires, the company says.

However, a Harvard School of Public Health study found that self-extinguishing cigarettes sold in New York, while not perfect, were much more likely to go out than keep burning and perhaps cause a fire. The 2005 study also found that the low-ignition cigarettes had no effect on sales there.

Researchers concluded all states should require the special cigarettes “to prevent needless death and suffering.”

Under the new Illinois law, retailers who sell cigarettes that don’t self-extinguish could face civil penalties. Fines collected would help pay for fire safety and prevention programs.

The bill is SB2302.

February 28, 2006
Chicago Sun Times, letters@suntimes.com
Dear Editor:
cc: Tracy Swartz tswartz@suntimes.com

RE: Bill would allow only ‘fire-safe’ cigarettes

The belief that “fire-safe” cigarettes are safer is a fallacy! They are dangerous!

I have smoked New York’s fire-safe cigarettes. They have a chemical odor while burning, taste like saw-dust and do SEEM to extinguish themselves frequently during the normal smoking period. Even though these “banded paper” cigarettes APPEAR to be out, the tobacco is still smoldering inside. The chemically treated rings in the cigarette’s paper only stops the OUTSIDE from burning. What may look like an extinguished cigarette can many times be activated by simply taking a drag on it. In ashtrays, even when these cigarettes are butted out, they can stubbornly continue to burn into the filters. After two close calls with wastebasket fires in my home while using these “new improved reduced-ignition-propensity fire-safe” cigarettes, I no longer dump used ashtrays for hours.

Smokers are a stubborn lot and will continue to smoke in their cars and while engaged in other tasks. When the tobacco INSIDE the cigarette continues to burn, occasionally the unburned paper at the end of the cigarette ignites suddenly and falls from the cigarette. If this happens to a driver in heavy traffic, putting out the burning paper that has fallen on them is truly dangerous. Once again, the smoker will be blamed instead of the clueless legislators who are promoting self extinguishing cigarettes.

Those supporting the introduction of these “fire-safe” cigarettes may be non-smokers, but it would be a very wise move to ask people who smoke how well these improved cigarettes work, especially in preventing home and auto fires. I hope our Illinois legislators will remember that the next time they are in their autos on the highway, and are driving next to a car containing a smoking driver.

Sincerely,
Garnet Dawn
The Smoker’s Club, Inc.
Midwest Regional Director
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights Newsletter – http://www.smokersclubinc.com
Illinois Smokers Rights – http://www.illinoissmokersrights.com/
mailto:garnetdawn@comcast.net – Respect Freedom of Choice!

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Bill would allow only ‘fire-safe’ cigarettes
February 27, 2006
BY TRACY SWARTZ Sun-Times Springfield Bureau