From: SMOKEFREE@compuserve.com
Date: Mon, 07/07/08
Cigarettes in state to be 'fire safe'
By Christopher Wink
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Friday, July 04, 2008
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08186/894853-100.stm
HARRISBURG -- Cigarettes in Pennsylvania are due to get safer, under
legislation approved by the Legislature.
House Bill 1612, introduced by Rep. Timothy J. Solobay, D-Washington, would
require all cigarettes sold in Pennsylvania to be "fire safe."
Low-ignition strength cigarettes are less likely to cause a fire if they
are left unattended by careless smokers, said state Fire Commissioner
Edward A. Mann, who praised the legislation.
Mr. Mann said, "Fire-safe cigarettes are rolled with bands of less porous,
slow-burning paper, so if the cigarette is left unattended, it will go out
when it burns down to one of those bands. There have been too many
tragedies caused by the careless use of cigarettes, and this standard is
designed to reduce that risk." The bill was passed unanimously in both the
House and the Senate and will be signed into law by Gov. Ed Rendell, said
spokesman Chuck Ardo.
"The governor believes that any measure that helps reduce accidental fires
and the accompanying property damage, injury or senseless loss of life is a
measure worth taking," Mr. Ardo said.
Smoking materials like cigarettes, cigars and pipes are the leading cause
of fire deaths in the United States, according to the National Fire
Protection Association. Roughly a quarter of such deaths in 2005, nearly
800, were attributed to them.
Fourteen states and Washington D.C. have implemented similar fire-safe
cigarette laws and 22 have passed such legislation, according to the
Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes.
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