Fire-safe cigarettes ignite New York
CMAJ 2000;163(5):588
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Within 3 years, New York will be the first US state to sell only fire-safe, self-extinguishing cigarettes. The move is designed to cut down on fires caused by careless smokers, which account for at least one-third of US fire deaths. About 1000 Americans and 100 Canadians die in such fires each year (CMAJ 2000;163[1]:73).
When New York's legislation takes effect July 1, 2003, wholesalers who sell regular cigarettes will be subject to $10 000 fines; retailers will be fined $500 for selling up to 5 cartons of the cigarettes and $1000 for selling more than 5 cartons. Massachusetts is considering similar legislation.
Philip Morris USA, the country's biggest cigarette manufacturer, test marketed its new fire-safe cigarettes in 2 US cities for 6 months, with positive results. "It's absolutely a good idea," says spokesperson Katie Otto. The company's new "reduced-ignition-propensity cigarettes" have rings of ultra thin paper on top of the regular paper; they act as speed bumps to slow down the rate of burning.
Industry critics say the technology for fire-safe cigarettes has been available for a century, but Otto says Phillip Morris didn't start development until the late 1980s. Its biggest concern, aside from fire safety, was to ensure that the cigarette tasted the same so consumers wouldn't switch to a brand that wasn't fire safe.
The tobacco industry now wants national fire-safe standards established throughout the US, as "opposed to 50 conflicting standards." There are no national standards in Canada. — Barbara Sibbald, CMAJ
© 2000 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors
