On Tuesday, Gov. Jim Doyle signed legislation that requires cigarettes sold in Wisconsin to be fire-safe.
Short of banning the sale of cigarettes altogether, which never will happen, making cigarettes safer is the best option.
"I am pleased to sign a bill that increases public safety by regulating tobacco," Doyle said. "This bill will ensure that smokers reduce the risk they pose to themselves and others."
The law takes effect Oct. 1, 2009, and will require any company that sells cigarettes in Wisconsin to make them self-extinguishing.
The law's intention is not to make smokers healthier, but to make the danger to those around them lower. Cigarettes are the leading cause of home fire fatalities in the United States, killing nearly 1,000 people per year.
Wisconsin joins at least 20 other states that have adopted fire-safe cigarette laws.
The Department of Commerce developed the fire safety standards. The most common technology used is to wrap cigarettes with two or three thin bands of less-porous paper that act as speed bumps to slow down a burning cigarette.
If a fire-safe cigarette is left unattended, the burning tobacco will reach one of these speed bumps and self-extinguish.
New York passed a fire-safety cigarette law in 2004. Deaths caused by cigarette fires declined dramatically in the state in the first few months that fire-safe cigarettes were mandated. A fire-safe cigarette cuts off the burning time before most cigarettes are able to ignite things like furniture or bedding material.
Changing to fire-safe cigarettes is only part of the solution. Changes to ways bedding and furniture are made would help, as would educating people who smoke indoors.
Making cigarettes fire-safe is the easiest part of the puzzle, and may help decrease the second part of the problem, flammable bedding and furniture. Educating the public about smoking in beds and on furniture is an ongoing effort.
The law may have a positive effect on non-smokers, too. The law should reduce insurance claims related to fire, which reduces costs for everybody.
Short of banning the sale of cigarettes altogether, which never will happen, making cigarettes safer is the best option.
"I am pleased to sign a bill that increases public safety by regulating tobacco," Doyle said. "This bill will ensure that smokers reduce the risk they pose to themselves and others."
The law takes effect Oct. 1, 2009, and will require any company that sells cigarettes in Wisconsin to make them self-extinguishing.
The law's intention is not to make smokers healthier, but to make the danger to those around them lower. Cigarettes are the leading cause of home fire fatalities in the United States, killing nearly 1,000 people per year.
Wisconsin joins at least 20 other states that have adopted fire-safe cigarette laws.
The Department of Commerce developed the fire safety standards. The most common technology used is to wrap cigarettes with two or three thin bands of less-porous paper that act as speed bumps to slow down a burning cigarette.
If a fire-safe cigarette is left unattended, the burning tobacco will reach one of these speed bumps and self-extinguish.
New York passed a fire-safety cigarette law in 2004. Deaths caused by cigarette fires declined dramatically in the state in the first few months that fire-safe cigarettes were mandated. A fire-safe cigarette cuts off the burning time before most cigarettes are able to ignite things like furniture or bedding material.
Changing to fire-safe cigarettes is only part of the solution. Changes to ways bedding and furniture are made would help, as would educating people who smoke indoors.
Making cigarettes fire-safe is the easiest part of the puzzle, and may help decrease the second part of the problem, flammable bedding and furniture. Educating the public about smoking in beds and on furniture is an ongoing effort.
The law may have a positive effect on non-smokers, too. The law should reduce insurance claims related to fire, which reduces costs for everybody.
