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Fire-safe cigarettes have been mandatory in [[Canada]] since 2005.<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3737/is_200405/ai_n9360395 bnet business network]</ref> The [[European Union]] has endorsed plans to move toward a cigarette less likely to start fires.<ref>[http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/17/1/4-b?rss=1 tobaccocontrol.bmj.com]</ref> Legislation in [[Australia]] could pass soon.<ref>[http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/181_06_200904/cha10373_fm.html Medical Journal of Australia]</ref>
Fire-safe cigarettes have been mandatory in [[Canada]] since 2005.<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3737/is_200405/ai_n9360395 bnet business network]</ref> The [[European Union]] has endorsed plans to move toward a cigarette less likely to start fires.<ref>[http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/17/1/4-b?rss=1 tobaccocontrol.bmj.com]</ref> Legislation in [[Australia]] could pass soon.<ref>[http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/181_06_200904/cha10373_fm.html Medical Journal of Australia]</ref>

==Controversy==

The term "fire-safe" is controversial as no lit cigarette can truly be considered "fire safe." Some refer to "fire-safe" cigarettes as having RIP (reduced ignition propensity).

Problems with fire safe cigarettes have been voiced by some consumers. For example, it has been observed that in order for a fire safe cigarette to stay lit, the smoker has to drag harder and more often. As a result, it is more likely that the end of the cigarette will burn down too fast, potentially creating a hazard in its own right. Some question whether a cigarette that extinguishes itself in a matter of minutes (as opposed to hours) will substantially mitigate its potential to cause fires.{{Fact|date=November 2008}}

Fire safe cigarettes are produced by adding bands of EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) to the cigarette paper during manufacturing, in order to decrease burn rate at the bands.<ref>US Patent 6,854,469</ref> The combustion toxicity of EVA has not been studied to any extent, but combustion byproducts are known to include carbon monoxide and "unknown hydrocarbons".<ref>http://www.nationaladh.com/Adhesives/USA/MSDS/MSDS+Document?prodNum=320272&formatCode=USAUS</ref>

Starting in early 2009, many smokers have been voicing complaints about fire safe cigarettes, on forums and message boards, myspace bulletins, etc. There is also an online petition made by "citizens against fire-safe cigarettes" which cites many of the known hazards of these cigarettes in its petition. See this link for that site: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/repeal-fire-safe-cigarette-laws

As of April 2009 there are more than 3000 signatures, but the petitioner's goal is to reach 10,000 signatures in order to repeal the government's decision about the new laws. Some of the many concerns voiced by smokers, including many who have signed the petition are as follows:

# The new cigarettes have an unacceptable "copper or metal" taste to them, which most smokers find distasteful and/or disgusting.
# The newly added chemicals in these cigarettes have not been put into proper testing or any studies and are not being looked at carefully enough by those who are putting these laws into effect.
# Fire Safe Cigarettes require that a smoker inhale in less than one minute or the cigarette will extinguish itself. The need to keep an FSC cigarette burning increases the number of inhales per cigarette, and thus increases the amount of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide intake into the smoker's lungs. The result is more health-risk damage to the smoker.
# The Fire Safe Cigarette design has resulted in more frequent ash dropping, which may even be less fire-safe than regular cigarettes. Many smokers have complained that because of the added bands that are put in the cigarette paper, it makes the ashes heavier, and therefore causes them to drop "randomly", burning into floors or clothing. These bands are put in the paper to help make the cigarette go out when it has burned down to one of them. But besides the major annoyance to most smokers to constantly relight the cigarette, sparks have also been reported to fly off the cigarette when it has burned down to one of these bands and is relit.
# Having to relight cigarettes frequently or constantly increases the potential for more fire related accidents with matches and lighters then regular cigarettes which usually only have to be lit once.
# The added and higher level chemicals contained in FSC cigarettes has proven to be more toxic than regular cigarettes and cause increased health related problems for smokers. Symptoms/conditions include, but are not limited to: Nausea, Sores in mouth and throat, Dry throat, constant headaches, extreme coughing, tightness in the chest, vomiting, body aches, pain in the abdomen and respiratory conditions including asthma and bronchitis.

Many smokers who have posted blogs, videos, or messages online are encouraging as many people as possible to sign the online petition against these new cigarettes to get the government to take a better look at what they are putting into law.


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 13:23, 8 July 2009

Fire safe cigarettes are special cigarettes designed to extinguish quickly, if ignored, with the intention of preventing unintended fires.

Cigarettes are the leading cause of residential fire deaths in the United States, having resulted in an estimated 800 civilian deaths, 1,660 civilian injuries and $575 million in direct property damage in 2005.[1] Typically, a cigarette drops from an ashtray into a crevice in upholstered furniture, smolders for several hours, then bursts into flame; related fatalities are primarily from smoke inhalation.

History

The United States Congress established the Consumer Product Safety Commission [1] in 1973 to protect the public from hazardous products. Congress excluded from its jurisdiction tobacco products, however, while assigning it responsibility for flammable fabrics.[2] The Commission immediately regulated the flammability of mattresses[2] and has worked with furniture manufacturers to establish voluntary flammability standards[3] for upholstered furniture, although more recently those standards have come to be considered mandatory.[2]

In 1978 Andrew McGuire, a burn survivor, activist and winner of a 1985 MacArthur Fellowship for his work on the flammability of children's sleepwear, started a grassroots campaign to prevent house fire deaths by changing the cigarette.[citation needed]

McGuire secured funding for an investigation of cigarettes and fires which became Cigarettes and Sofas: How the Tobacco Lobby Keeps the Home Fires Burning. Massachusetts congressman Joe Moakley introduced federal fire-safe-cigarette legislation in the fall of 1979, after a cigarette fire in his district killed a family of seven; California senator Alan Cranston authored a matching Senate bill.

The Tobacco Institute fought all efforts to regulate cigarettes, financing a fire-prevention education program to deflect firefighter support of the campaign.[4][5][6] When New York was poised to pass a state bill, a compromise resulted in the Cigarette Safety Act of 1984, which funded a three-year study under the auspices of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which reported to Congress in 1987 that it was technically feasible and maybe commercially feasible to make a cigarette that was less likely to start fires.[7] Legislative activity continued in the states while the federal government, cigarette manufacturers, and advocates fought about next steps. McGuire and colleagues continued to inform advocates about cigarette fires and prevention strategies: legislation and liability.[8][9][10][11]

A later compromise led to the Fire Safe Cigarette Act of 1990. The resulting study, while more contentious, laid the groundwork for a flammability test method for cigarettes.[12] Federal efforts to implement a standard stalled after this, as the Reagan and Bush administrations supported free markets, not regulation. The grassroots campaign focused on state efforts. McGuire continued to publish reports about tactics and progress.[13][14][15]

In 2000, New York passed the first state law requiring that cigarettes have a lower likelihood of starting a fire. By the spring of 2006, four more states had passed laws modeled after New York's: Vermont, New Hampshire, California, and Illinois. McGuire published an update for the campaign.[16]

That spring, the National Fire Protection Association[2] decided to fund the Fire Safe Cigarette Coalition[3] to accelerate this grassroots movement. Twenty-one states have passed legislation modeled on the New York law, and seventeen more states have bills pending. Fifteen lawsuits were filed regarding cigarette-ignited fire deaths and injuries between 1982 and the present. The first successful lawsuit resulted in a settlement for a toddler severely burned in car fire allegedly caused by a cigarette.[17]

RJ Reynolds has said recently that it would sell only “fire safe” cigarettes.[18] Philip Morris now actively supports legislation.[19]

Outside the United States

Fire-safe cigarettes have been mandatory in Canada since 2005.[20] The European Union has endorsed plans to move toward a cigarette less likely to start fires.[21] Legislation in Australia could pass soon.[22]

References

  1. ^ nfpa.org
  2. ^ a b c U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
  3. ^ ufac.org
  4. ^ Fighting Fire with Firemen. Fortune, October 3, 1983
  5. ^ Gunja M, Wayne GF, Landman A, Connelly G, McGuire A. The case for fire safe cigarettes made through industry documents. Tobacco Control 2002;11:346-353
  6. ^ Barbeau EM, Gelder G, Ahmed S et al. From strange bedfellows to natural allies: the shifting allegiance of fire service organizations in the push for federal fire-safe cigarette legislation. Tobacco Control 2005; 14:338-345
  7. ^ Technical Study Group on Cigarette and Little Cigar Fire Safety. Toward a Less Fire-Prone Cigarette. Washington, DC: Consumer product Safety Commission, 1987
  8. ^ McLoughlin E. The Cigarette Safety Act. Journal of Public Health Policy. 1982;3(2):226-228
  9. ^ Grannis AB. The New York Cigarette Fire Safety Act. New York State Journal of Medicine. 1983;839130:1299
  10. ^ DeFrancesco S, Teret S, McGuire A. Liability for Cigarette-related Fire Death and Injury. Trial Lawyer’s Quarterly. 1986; 17(4):9-15
  11. ^ McGuire A. Fires, Cigarettes and Advocacy. Law, Medicine and Health Care. 1989: 17(1):73-77
  12. ^ Consumer Product Safety Commission. Overview: Practicability of Developing a Performance Standard to Reduce Cigarette Ignition Propensity. August, 1993
  13. ^ McGuire A. "The Case of the Fire Safe Cigarette: the Synergism Between State and Federal Legislation," in Bergman A.B. (ed): Political Approaches to Injury Control at the State Level. University of Washington Press, Seattle/London, 1992, pp.79-87
  14. ^ McGuire, A., Daynard, R., "When Cigarettes Start Fires: Industry Liability," Trial Magazine, Vol. 28, No.11, Nov 1992, pp. 44-49
  15. ^ McGuire, A., “How the Tobacco Industry Continues to Keep the Home Fires Burning,” Commentary, Tobacco Control. 1999; 8:67-69
  16. ^ McGuire, A., “To Burn or Not to Burn: An Advocate’s Report from the Field,” Injury Prevention, 2005; 11:264-266
  17. ^ LA Times
  18. ^ nfpa.org
  19. ^ philipmorrisusa.com philipmorrisusa.com
  20. ^ bnet business network
  21. ^ tobaccocontrol.bmj.com
  22. ^ Medical Journal of Australia

http://www.fsccigarettes.com/

http://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/rpt/2007-R-0670.htm

http://www.smokersclubinc.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5027

http://www.forces.org/News_Portal/news_viewer.php?id=1565

http://fsccigarettes.com/

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/repeal-fire-safe-cigarette-laws

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