• "Virginia should require slightly safer cigarettes"
  The Roanoke Times (January 22, 2008)
• "This Could be the Year"
  By NFPA President James M. Shannon (January 3, 2008)
• "Fire-safe cigarettes needed in S.C."
  The State, Columbia, SC (July 1, 2007)
• "Self-extinguishing cigarettes a good move"
  The Enquirer, Cincinnati, OH (March 28, 2007)
• "Fire-Safe Cigarettes: The Time Has Come", by NFPA President James M. Shannon
  The Courier-Journal, Lousiville, KY (March 28, 2007)
• "Fire-safe cigarette bill needs to pass"
  The Times (Portland, OR), (March 22, 2007)
• "Join the march to fire-safe cigarettes"
  The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC (March 4, 2007)
• A letter to the editor USA Today, by NFPA President James M. Shannon, (November 10, 2006)
• The Republican, Springfield, MA (June 14, 2006)
• A letter to the editor USA Today (May 19, 2006)
• The Journal News, Westchester County, NY (May 14, 2006)
• Rockford Register Star, Rockford, IL (May 10, 2006)
• The Boston Globe, Boston, MA (May 4, 2006)
• The Boston Globe, Boston, MA (April 29, 2006)
• Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, MD (March 23, 2006)
• Burlington Free Press, Burlington, VT (March 16, 2006)
• Berkshire Eagle, Berkshire MA (February 14, 2006)
• The Ithaca Journal, Ithaca, NY (November 10, 2005)
• The Boston Globe, Boston, MA (April 19, 2005)

I applaud USA TODAY's coverage of a deadly issue — the high number of fire deaths involving upholstered furniture and the slow movement to enact standards that would undoubtedly save lives ("Delays over furniture fires deadly," News, Oct. 30).

Roughly 20% of home-fire deaths occur in fires that begin with ignition of upholstered furniture. These fires kill more than 500 people in the USA per year.

Furniture does not spontaneously combust. The leading cause of these fires is cigarettes. While attempts to regulate furniture manufacturers have been stymied, there is a national movement directed at cigarettes that is reducing fires and fire fatalities in this country. The Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes, launched less than a year ago, is working to get tobacco companies to produce and sell only cigarettes that meet a tested fire safety standard. These "fire-safe" cigarettes have a reduced propensity to burn if left unattended or dropped onto upholstered furniture and mattresses.

To date, six states have passed legislation requiring fire-safe cigarettes. All are using the same standard that was first enacted in New York in 2004. This has resulted in fewer cigarette-related fires and fatalities. The coalition is working to get similar legislation passed in the remaining 44 states.

Tobacco companies can make this lifesaving change on their own, but so far they have refused. Perhaps continued coverage of the fire issue will cause them to act.

James M. Shannon
CEO and President, NFPA

Where there's smoke, there's not always fire
The Republican, Springfield, MA
June 14, 2006

Cigarette, n.: A fire at one end, a fool at the other and a bit of tobacco in between.

That popular definition is provided here today in the hope that it will light a fire under the Massachusetts Legislature and prompt it to pass a fire-safe cigarette bill.

Unattended cigarettes are the leading cause of residential fire fatalities in the nation. So far this year, at least seven deaths in Massachusetts are blamed on fires caused by cigarettes.

If the bill is passed, only self-extinguishing cigarettes will be sold in Massachusetts. These fire-safe cigarettes are wrapped in thin bands of paper that cause the cigarette to stop burning if the smoker drops it or puts it down. The technology has been available for more than two decades.

With several high-profile bills competing for their attention and only a few weeks before the end of formal session, this is just the sort of bill that lawmakers will allow to fall between the seat cushions. The Senate approved the bill on March 22, but it still needs the approval of the House. With time running out, the House should approve this bill before it packs its beach balls for the Cape.

Fire-safe cigarettes don't cost more to produce, don't taste any different and don't reduce consumption, but the tobacco industry opposes the Massachusetts bill and similar bills pending in other states.

Manufacturers say Congress needs to set national standards. Efforts to establish a national standard have self-extinquished, however, because Congress refuses to regulate the tobacco industry, so states are doing it themselves. New York, New Hampshire, Illinois, California and Vermont have all passed safe-cigarette legislation. The laws are so similar that tobacco companies are selling the same fire-safe cigarettes in each state.

Nationally, 800 Americans die and another 2,200 are injured each year in fires that started when a smoker fell asleep, dropped his cigarette or didn't notice when it rolled off the ashtray onto a sofa cushion or mattress. Property damage totals millions of dollars each year. And whenever firefighters are called to a house fire that was caused by careless smoking, their lives are in danger.

Time ran out last year on the Massachusetts Legislature when a similar law was allowed to die. Lawmakers should not make that mistake again.

Cigarette fire safety
A letter to the editor of USA Today
May 19, 2006

'Fire-safe' for all
Westchester County, NY
May 14, 2006

New York state has a history of either being out front on some issues — banning the sale of the stimulant ephedra to minors, for example — or pigheadedly slow on others — failing to comply with the Help America Vote Act, say.

There is one effort of note, though, that the state both managed to drag its feet on and still lead the way for the rest of the nation.

In June 2000, the state passed a law requiring fire-safety standards for cigarettes — ones wrapped in lower-ignition paper that would burn at a lower temperature and extinguish faster if not puffed on. The theory: Cigarettes, a major cause in fire fatalities, would go out quickly in the event of careless smoking, particularly when smokers fall asleep.

The tobacco industry and others lobbied for, and got, extended time periods for comment. Anti-smoking and consumer groups lobbied back. Meanwhile, the tobacco industry also suggested that it would be far better for New York to wait until a federal standard could be enacted. Uh-huh.

Finally, the law was fully implemented in New York in June 2004. Finally, tobacco companies were required to sell only "fire-safe'' cigarettes here.

California and Vermont follow the lead. According to a Page One story in USA Today Tuesday at least a dozen other states have been considering comparable bills over the last 18 months. And yes, there is legislation in Congress that would require fire-safe cigarettes nationally.

Facts

• Cigarette fires have been the top cause of U.S. fire fatalities for decades, killing tens of thousands of people in the past 30 years, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
• Even though deaths have declined because smoking rates have declined, cigarette fires still kill 700 to 900 people a year.
• Senior citizens suffer and die in fire deaths disproportionately, a number that is predicted to grow as the large number of baby boomers age.
• Tobacco industry spokespeople note that fire-safe cigarettes can still ignite trash or furniture. Besides, "fire-safe'' is really not an accurate name, they say, and could give smokers a false sense of security.

So does listening to disingenuous tobacco industry spokespeople.

New York's Fire Administrator James Burns, president of the National Association of State Fire Marshals, said that since New York's fire-safe cigarette requirement took effect, data indicate that fatalities dropped by a third in just the first six months.

Surely that's worth the rest of the nation following New York's lead, either state-by-state or through Congress stiffening its backbone and passing federal legislation.

Cigarettes should be fire safe
Rockford Register Star, Rockford, IL
May 10, 2006

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the past 30 years in fires caused by cigarettes. The governor has a bill on his desk that could prevent as many as three out of four of those deaths.

We think he should sign it.

The bill would require tobacco companies to sell only "fire safe" cigarettes. When left unattended, these cigarettes are less likely to ignite. The National Fire Protection Association says "fire safe" cigarettes, which have been mandated in three other states, can cut smoking-related fires by as much as 75 percent.

Tobacco companies say the cigarettes will lead to a feeling of false security and that a couch, LazyBoy or bag full of trash still can go up in flames.

Even so, a fire is less likely to happen, and that's the point. In article published Tuesday in USA TODAY, the state fire administrator in New York said deaths in cigarette fires dropped by a third in the first six months after a fire safe cigarette mandate took effect.

Fires caused by cigarettes kill as many as 900 people a year, and they kill senior citizens at four times the rate of other Americans. If a new type of cigarette can save some of those lives, it's well worth another hit to the profit margin of tobacco companies.

When a smoke causes fire
The Boston Globe, Boston, MA
May 4, 2006

Of all the deaths the tobacco industry shares blame for, some of the most preventable are those caused not by lung cancer or emphysema but fire. For years, the tobacco companies have known that a simple change in cigarette paper design could keep dropped cigarettes from smoldering and starting fires. A bill that has been approved by the state Senate would, if passed by the House and signed by Governor Romney, require that all cigarettes sold in this state meet a ''reduced ignition" standard.

In the past, the tobacco companies resisted the change, fearing that their customers would dislike the taste of these cigarettes and stop buying them. The experience of New York State has disproved that argument. It inaugurated a law requiring that cigarettes meet an extinguishing standard in mid-2004, and data on sales and taxes show no drop in consumption. There was also no jump in prices, undercutting another industry argument against the change.

Even before the New York law, Philip Morris  had produced a version of its Merit brand using tiny bands in the wrapping to slow down burning. Once New York demonstrated the feasibility of requiring safer cigarettes, two other states -- Vermont and California -- passed similar laws, and a bill in Illinois needs only the governor's signature. A national law mandating reduced ignition cigarettes would save the most lives, but Congress has failed to pass such legislation.

Smoldering cigarettes are the most common cause of fatal home fires. In Massachusetts alone, they have been blamed for seven fire fatalities this year and regularly cause 1,500 fires a year. A 1979 fire caused by smoking killed a family of four in Westwood. Nationally, the toll is 900 to 1,000 a year and includes smokers, nonsmokers, and firefighters. A Harvard School of Public Health study in 2005 found that cigarettes meeting the New York standard did emit slightly higher levels of toxic compounds than regular cigarettes. But that difference is eclipsed by the lives and property lost to fires caused by regular cigarettes.

In Congress, a bill cosponsored by Democratic Representative Edward Markey of Malden and a Republican, Peter King of New York, would extend the New York standard to the entire country. The biggest tobacco company, Philip Morris Inc., says it now prefers such a national law to state laws with differing requirements. But R.J. Reynolds, the second biggest in the industry, is still skeptical about reduced ignition cigarettes, and there is no movement in Congress to pass the Markey-King bill. Massachusetts should pass its own law to make sure that state residents do not suffer while Congress dithers.

Building a 'fire-safe' cigarette
The Boston Globe, Boston, MA
April 29, 2006

by Rachel Kaprielian and Stephen Brewer

At least seven deaths in Massachusetts so far this year are believed to be the result of cigarette-ignited fires. In fact, cigarettes are the leading cause of residential fire deaths across the country, killing 700 to 900 Americans each year -- both smokers and nonsmokers.

Additionally, thousands of victims suffer devastating burn and lung injuries, and property losses total millions of dollars each year. While on their own these numbers are sad, they are made more painful knowing there is a proven way to prevent such tragedies.

Last month, the Massachusetts Senate passed legislation requiring that cigarettes sold in the state be ''fire-safe" -- a term for cigarettes with a reduced ignition propensity if left unattended on upholstered furniture or mattresses. The most common fire-safe technology used by cigarette manufacturers is to make the paper thicker in places to act as ''speed bumps" to slow down a burning cigarette. If a fire-safe cigarette is left unattended, the burning tobacco will reach an area where the paper is thicker and self-extinguish.

Tobacco companies, which have had this technology for nearly a half-century, have long made unfounded excuses -- everything from taste to expense -- as to why it could not be done. Time and again, they have been proven wrong.

Already, legislation requiring cigarettes to meet a consistent fire safety standard has been adopted in New York, Vermont, and California, and the governor in Illinois is about to sign the same bill into law. Initial research in New York State since the implementation of its statewide mandate shows a dramatic decline in the number of fatalities caused by cigarette-ignited fires. Research has also shown that these fire-safe cigarettes have not reduced cigarette sales or tax revenues, meaning they are acceptable to consumers. We are now seeing that fire-safe cigarettes can save lives, and there is no reason for tobacco companies to withhold this lifesaving technology from Massachusetts -- or any other state for that matter.

Mary Kearney of Boston knows all too well the need for such legislation. In 1990, Kearney lost five members of her immediate family and a friend to a six-alarm blaze -- one of the state's worst fires in recent memory -- started by a cigarette that caught fire in a couch. For more than a decade she and her surviving children have come to the State House advocating for fire-safe cigarette legislation to spare other families the pain they feel every day.

Opponents of the bill, mainly the tobacco industry and their spokespeople, are now saying that states should not act and should let the federal government pass a single standard. The reality is that Congress has refused to regulate the tobacco industry in any way. By adopting the New York standard, states are in fact creating a uniform standard. We can barely get a closely divided Congress to agree on the time of day.

As the Legislature begins its season of budget debate, it is often a challenge to work within our fiscal realities, yet do what is right. But here is a simple idea that makes sense. It will save lives and does not cost anything. In addition, the cigarette paper manufacturers employ 277 people in Western Massachusetts. It is one reason why Governor Romney's former secretary of administration and finance, Eric Kriss, testified in support of this legislation at the public hearing held by the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security. It is a jobs bill as well as public safety legislation.

Every day that passes without cigarette fire safety standards in place means we are placing our firefighters and fellow residents at greater, unnecessary risk. The longer we wait, the more lives will be lost to cigarette-ignited fires. And it bears remembering that such fires harm not only the actual smoker, but also the children in the apartment next door, or the senior citizen who lives upstairs.

The time has come to finally hold the tobacco industry to a higher standard that already exists. The Massachusetts Legislature should act now to protect the citizens of our state and prevent another family from experiencing the loss from which Mary Kearney and her family will never fully recover.

State Representative Rachel Kaprielian is a Democrat from Watertown. State Senator Stephen Brewer is a Democrat from Barre.

Last week, someone carelessly tossed a cigarette butt in a pile of dead grass and leaves in Solomons Island. The resulting blaze destroyed two popular restaurants, four condominiums and two boats, a loss estimated at $5 million or more. Remarkably, no one was hurt, but the incident underscores a serious problem. Cigarettes are the leading cause of house fires in this country. Maryland's experience is typical: In 2004, 22 people died in the 473 fires that were ignited by cigarettes - or about one-quarter of all the people who died in fires that year.

The General Assembly is considering legislation that could help solve this problem. The bill would require that all cigarettes sold in Maryland be certified as low-ignition beginning in 2007. Tobacco companies manufacture such a product. In most cases, it merely requires that cigarettes be wrapped in special banded paper. If a fire-safe cigarette is not actively puffed, it tends to extinguish itself.

The House of Delegates approved the bill last Friday, but now it faces an uncertain future in the Senate where it must get past Finance Committee Chairman Thomas M. Middleton, a Charles County Democrat who is sympathetic to Southern Maryland's tobacco interests. The cost to consumers is modest - an estimated penny per pack - but the potential benefit could be huge. Residential fires have declined significantly since the state of New York adopted the standard in 2004. California and Vermont have also passed low-ignition laws, and a handful of other states may soon follow suit.

Tobacco companies are against the idea, but that's no surprise. More important, the state's fire and rescue community has come out strongly for it. Its reasoning is simple: Self-extinguishing cigarettes are certain to save lives. Surely that's worth an extra penny on each pack.

NFPA President James M. Shannon responds (published in The Baltimore Sun, April 1, 2006)

Dear Editor: I applaud your editorial support for legislation pending in Maryland that would require that all cigarettes sold in the state be certified as low-ignition – so called “fire-safe” cigarettes. (March 23 – Where there’s smoke)

Cigarettes are the leading cause of residential fire death across the country, killing 700 to 900 Americans each year. Additionally, thousands of victims suffer devastating injuries, and property losses total millions of dollars each year. Yet there is a proven, practical, and effective way to reduce the risk of cigarette-ignited fires.

The technology for fire-safe cigarettes has existed for many years. However, tobacco companies have not made this safer alternative widely available.  If they won’t act on their own, it is imperative that Maryland protect its citizens from needless death, disability and destruction caused by cigarette fires.

If the proposed fire-safe cigarette bill becomes law, the state will be in good company. Already, legislative requirements for fire-safe cigarettes have been adopted in New York, Vermont, and California and a number of other states are currently considering legislation. 

Fire-safe cigarettes work. Initial research in New York since the implementation of its statewide mandate shows a decline in the number of fatalities caused by cigarette‑ignited fires. Research has also shown that these fire-safe cigarettes have not reduced sales or made cigarettes more toxic to smoke.

We join you in urging the Maryland General Assembly to take this lifesaving step and enact the pending legislation.

Sincerely,
James M. Shannon
CEO and President, NFPA

Cigarette fires cause for a slow burn
Burlington Free Press, Burlington, VT
March 16, 2006

Anthony Loyer died from injuries he suffered when his great-grandmother's house on North Avenue in Burlington burned March 2. He was 16, an unthinkable age at which to die.

As if his death weren't sad enough, skip ahead just 59 days from that tragedy and Anthony might have been spared.

Odds are, the fire that killed Anthony in the wood-frame house started when a cigarette dropped onto a couch smoldered long enough to ignite the upholstered furniture. From there, it spread. You've heard the same story, played on different stages, many times before.

The script plays out, like most everywhere, too often in Vermont. Of the 116 people who died in fire fatalities in the state from 1995 through 2004, one quarter were killed by fires caused by cigarettes. Nothing -- not wood stoves or lighters, candles or faulty wiring or overloaded outlets or frying pans untended on stovetops -- even came close to causing as many deadly blazes.

Nine people died in fires last year in Vermont. Investigators suspect cigarettes caused the fires that killed eight of them -- including five in a Barre fire in December -- said Bob Howe, an assistant state fire marshal.

Maybe these numbers will change for the better soon, on account of strips of paper no wider than your pinkie finger built into every cigarette.

As of May 1, Vermont will require that all cigarettes sold in the state be self-extinguishing. The paper rolling includes two bands that inhibit air from passing through. If a smoker isn't puffing on the cigarette, drawing air through the tobacco, the ember is starved for oxygen and extinguishes. Howe compared the bands to speed bumps.

The butts are called "fire-safe."

No extra labor for the smoker, no change in the flavor, no effect on the cost. Most significant: Far fewer burning mattresses and smoldering couches. Taken outdoors, away from the peril of an ottoman, that cigarette won't be as easily igniting roadside piles of dry leaves, either.

It's a no-brainer, as simple in retrospect as a seat belt.

New York required self-extinguishing cigarettes as of June 2004 and has since experienced a sharp month-to-month decline in the number of fatal fires attributed to cigarettes.

Howe said some cigarettes sold in Vermont already are self-extinguishing, though it's hard for the untrained eye to tell. Packs of self-extinguishing cigarettes are distinguished by a diamond, an asterisk or a dash near the bar code.

Liquor inspectors will perform the day-to-day checks to make sure that cigarettes conform after May 1. Fines will range from $500 for retailers selling long-burning cigarettes to $10,000 for manufacturers distributing them.

The fire that killed Anthony Loyer is, technically, still under investigation.

But Scott Kilpatrick, the assistant fire marshal in Burlington, left little doubt about what might have been.

"It's impossible to say" precisely what caused the fire, he said. "You'd like to say we wouldn't have had a fire with fire-safe cigarettes."

Fifty-nine days after Anthony Loyer died, the dropped cigarette that likely led to his death would have lacked air and gone cold before it had a chance to ignite furniture.

Cigarette makers have had the capability to mass-produce the safer butts for at least 20 years. One by one, as each state requires them, the manufacturers will comply.

That's enough to send anybody into a slow burn.

Berkshire Eagle, Berkshire, MA
February 14, 2006

To the Editor: I was saddened to read of the death of a Pittsfield resident who died from what appears to be a smoking related fire in his home this month. Unfortunately, a tragedy such as this is not all that unusual but can be prevented.

Cigarettes remain the number one cause of fatal household fires in the state, killing not only smokers but also the firefighters battling the blaze, young children too small to escape and older adults.

There is a measure under consideration during this current legislative session that could significantly reduce deaths and injuries caused by cigarettes. The “Fire-Safe Cigarette” bill (HB 1914 and SB 1345) would require manufacturers to make cigarettes less likely to cause fires. The cigarettes would contain special paper bands that slow down and extinguish a cigarette’s burn if the smoker is not actively puffing on it.

The bill is now with the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.

It is critical that the bill move out of committee so it can be passed this legislative session. The longer the bill is delayed the more lives that are lost to cigarette fires.

New York, Vermont and California have already passed the legislation, as has Canada. The time is now to pass the bill in Massachusetts. While it is too late to save this Pittsfield resident, legislation could protect others in Massachusetts from future tragedies. 

Sincerely,

James M. Shannon
CEO and President, NFPA

February 3, 2006 (Capital News 9, Albany, NY): Pittsfield (MA) fire officials said careless smoking started an early morning fire that killed a 50-year-old man. Firefighters responded to the scene at 61 April Lane and found a couch on fire in David Padeck's apartment. Padeck's body was found close by. Investigators said the smoke detectors weren't working inside the home. But the ones in the apartment above went off, and the victim's upstairs neighbor called 911. An autopsy showed Padeck died from burns that he suffered during the blaze.

Smoking fires: State leads in remedy
The Ithaca Journal
November 10, 2005

Smoking kills. It's that simple. The Centers for Disease Control reports that our toxic tobacco addiction kills 400,000 Americans a year - that's as many U.S. citizens in 15 months as died in all of World War II, and 200 times as many as have been lost in Iraq since our 2003 invasion. Of course, unlike World War II at least, this entire slaughter is preventable. When people stop smoking, people stop dying. The good news is that is our cultural trend, with smoking on the decline in many segments of American society.

And there's something else that is reining in the destruction of smoking, and it's a trend on the rise.

Born right here in New York in 2004, the movement to require cigarette manufacturers to make self-extinguishing smokes just got a big boost from California where, early last month, lawmakers decided to join the Empire State and nearby Vermont in imposing the fire-safety standard. It's an idea that was called for as long ago as 1929, but never found favor among the titans of the tobacco industry.

Under the New York and new California rule, cigarettes must be wrapped in paper that puts itself out in two minutes if left unattended. The idea is simple: the paper around the cigarette has bands of less flammable paper mixed in. If no misguided lungs are pulling in the extra oxygen needed for combustion, the cigarette goes out when it hits one of these bands. The addition of California to the effort means 20 percent of all U.S. smokers will be using these cigarettes.

You might laugh at the idea -- but our guess is if you do, you're not a firefighter or a burn victim.

According to the National Fire Protection Agency - a group that helps set fire codes and standards - as many as 26,000 home fires each year are cigarette-related. Those fires cause $300 million in damages and claim more than 700 lives annually, making cigarettes responsible for 25 percent of all home fires and the leading cause of home fire deaths. Early numbers from New York show the simple paper change are cutting cigarette-related fire deaths by 33 percent. Advocates expect that number to rise after more data is collected.

Not so funny now, is it?

At a time when the tobacco industry still has a pretty firm lock on Congress, more states are making their own rules. With California on board, Massachusetts and New Jersey are reportedly not far behind. Even some tobacco firms, tired of wrongful death and injury lawsuits, are putting up less of a fight. Self-extinguishing cigarettes are a common sense notion whose tide seems to be on the rise.

While cigarette-related fires don't begin to rival the lethal health-destroying force of smoking, every needless death is a tragedy and every life saved is a cause for celebration. At a time when Albany lawmakers are justifiably lambasted for so often being late to act of last in the nation to address crucial issues, New York should be proud of its role as the frontrunner in this growing national movement.

Smoke without fires
Boston Globe
April 19, 2005

The most common cause of fatal home fires, a smoldering cigarette, could easily be prevented if lawmakers would simply require the tobacco industry to produce cigarettes that quickly extinguish when they are not being smoked. Congressional legislation to achieve this has never gotten very far, but since last June, all New York state cigarettes have had to meet a ''reduced ignition propensity" standard. Massachusetts legislators should enact a similar bill that is pending on Beacon Hill. Read the entire editorial (PDF, 23 KB).