Repeal Fire Safe Cigarette Laws

A Petition to Repeal Fire Safe Cigarette Law

Citizens Against Fire Safe Cigarettes (CAFSC)

Author: David Jaromnak

Date: 11/15/08

The Fire Safe Cigarette Initiative promoted by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the Coalition for Fire Safe Cigarettes has resulted in laws in affect or passed, pending enforcement in States/Commonwealths requiring all retail locations to sell only Fire Safe Cigarettes (FSC) to consumers.  Fire safe cigarettes have two layers of paper with %u201Cspeed bumps%u201D mixed with higher levels of chemicals than regular cigarettes.  Such FSC cigarettes will burn out within one minute if the cigarette is not inhaled.  The Citizens Against Fire Safe Cigarettes appeal to State/Commonwealth governments to review the facts and repeal the FSC laws. Failure to do so will result in increased health costs and deaths.  If not repealed, the CAFSC will seek legal recourse through the judicial system and State Superior Courts.  If necessary, the appeal will be made to the Supreme Court of the United States.   

Identified Hazards

1)      Cigarette company literature and health officials have identified %u201Clight%u201D cigarettes as no less dangerous than regular cigarettes.  Such light cigarettes contain equal amounts of carbon monoxide.  The affect and harm of cigarette smoke varies depending upon the smoker%u2019s habit of taking longer, deeper and more frequent puffs on the cigarette. This is a widely accepted fact.  Fire Safe Cigarettes require that a smoker inhale in less than one minute or the cigarette will extinguish itself.  The need to keep a 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%u2019s lungs.  The result is more health-risk damage to the smoker.

2)      The Fire Safe Cigarette design has resulted in more frequent ash, which may fall and ignite more fires than regular cigarettes.

3)      Having to relight cigarettes increases the potential for more fire related accidents with matches and lighters.

4)      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.

a.       The Harvard School of Health reported that when comparing NY Cigarettes (FSC) versus Regular Cigarettes, the FSC cigarettes produced 13.9% more Naphthalene and 11.4% more carbon monoxide than regular cigarettes.[1]  Naphthalene is commonly found in moth balls, and exposure in high amounts can result in %u201CSymptoms of acute exposure include headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, malaise, confusion, anemia, jaundice, convulsions, and coma.%u201D[2] Therefore, it has been proven that FSC cigarettes contain higher levels of chemicals that are harmful to smokers.

b.      Phillip Morris USA has reported that the Adhesive ethylene vinyl acetate and polyvinyl acetate are used in the non-tobacco ingredients of cigarettes produced as a Side-seam adhesive.  However, Phillip Morris USA fails to distinguish the differences in levels between regular and FSC cigarettes.  The amount does not exceed .6 % combined.[3]  Since additional layers of paper are used in FSC cigarettes, more adhesive is needed in the form of ethylene vinyl acetate.

Safe smoking habits of responsible adults prevent fatalities from burning cigarettes. It is up to individuals to responsibly extinguish cigarettes.  The creation of FSC cigarettes has created numerous hazards which cause more fatalities and problems than the small amount of lives saved from fires with the FSC cigarettes in use.  Not only are the FSC cigarettes unsafe to smokers, it presents health problems and increases the damage of cigarettes.  Due to inadequate testing by Cigarette Companies and government agencies, the FSC cigarette poses real and identified dangers to the smoking public.  Therefore, the FSC laws are detrimental to the public good and must be repealed immediately. 

All who hereto sign this petition support the immediate repeal of all FSC laws and support an allowance for Cigarette Companies to resume selling %u201Cregular cigarettes%u201D in retail stores within all States/Commonwealths in the United States of America.

Signed,

Citizens Against Fire Safe Cigarettes

[1] %u201CFire Safer Cigarettes %u2013 The Effect of the New York State Fire Safety Standard On Ignition Propensity, Smoke Toxicity, and the Consumer Market%u201D, Alpert/Carpenter/Connolly/Rees/Wayne and Harvard School of Public Health, 2005, http://firesafecigarettes.org/assets/files/HarvardStudy.pdf

[2] %u201CNaphthalene%u201D, Technology Transfer Network, Air Toxics Web Site, United States Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/naphthal.html

[3] %u201CCigarettes-Ingredients-Non-Tobacco Ingredients%u201D, Phillip Morris USA, http://www.philipmorrisusa.com/en/cms/Products/Cigarettes/Ingredients/Non_Tobacco_Ingredients/default.aspx?src=top_nav