NFPA Works With States to Pass Fire Safe Cigarette Laws

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Cigarette fires are the leading cause of fire deaths in the United States, and the Coalition for Fire Safe Cigarettes has been working for years to help all 50 states enact fire safe cigarette laws. The first fire safe cigarette law was passed in New York in 2004, and since then 37 states and the District of Columbia have either signed fire safe cigarette legislation or have implemented the laws. As of January 1, 2009 five new states, Delaware, Iowa, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas, enacted laws requiring merchants to sell only fire safe cigarettes.

Fire Safe Cigarettes are made with a special type of paper that is less porous than regular cigarettes, allowing less oxygen into the cigarette when it is not being puffed. This forces the cigarette to self-extinguish, preventing it from smoldering and eventually catching on fire. Fire safe paper cannot be easily distinguished by the naked eye; however, when marked with a highlighter, the less porous paper becomes evident. Packages of fire safe cigarettes are marked with the letters FSC on their bar codes.

According to Captain Mitch Carney of the Corona Fire Department, there are between 700 and 900 fire death attributed to cigarettes each year, and changing the way cigarettes are manufactured has become the mission of many dedicated individuals. This important initiative has been championed by the Coalition for Fire Safe Cigarettes, which is coordinated by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). For decades, advocates of fire safe cigarettes unsuccessfully attempted to pass such laws on a federal level, and so they began to work with states to pass the legislation. Their efforts have paid off, as the numbers show.

A great victory in this battle came when the NFPA was able to gain the support of major companies in the tobacco industry who were once the staunchest enemies of the proposal. According to Ray Bizal, the NFPA Western Regional Manager, "We at NFPA are now working with the tobacco industry. Altria, Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds have signed on after a lot of negotiating and working with them. They are not opposing this anymore. In fact, they're supporting this legislation."

The fight to make fire safe cigarettes a national standard has been long, but it is nearing its end. To date in 2009, four more states have signed fire safe cigarettes into law and will be enacting them soon. Even though some states have not passed these types of laws yet, by the end of 2009 R.J. Reynolds will start manufacturing all of its cigarettes using the fire safe material. Philip Morris, the largest tobacco company in the United States, will continue to make both kinds of cigarettes for now.

For more information on the Coalition for Fire Safe Cigarettes, visit www.firesafecigarettes.org.