MENUCOMMITTEESCALENDARTFA NEWSEleven States Have New Fire-Safe Cigarette Laws on the Books
NACS online - Writer: Staff Reporter - Date Printed: 2010-01-04
TALLAHASEE, Fla. – The new fire-safe cigarette laws in Florida, Michigan and nine other states go into effect the first week of this year, the Associate Press reports. The fire-safe cigarette standards call for the cigarettes to self-extinguish 75 percent of the time when not being actively smoked.
New York led the way six years ago with the first fire-safe cigarette law. This year, self-extinguishing cigarette laws were enacted in Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nebraska, Missouri, Michigan, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas and Alabama.
By next year’s first week, South Dakota, Ohio and Mississippi also will have fire-safe cigarette laws enacted. Wyoming is the only state without such a law, according to the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes.
“There’s tiny, ultra-thin bands of paper that are literally layered on the white part of the cigarette and when the lit end of the product crosses one of those bands it acts like a speed bump and it slows down the burn rate,” said David Sutton, spokesman for Altria Group, parent of Philip Morris USA.
Philip Morris has been talking with states to ensure all use the New York standards. By Feb. 2, the tobacco manufacturer will sell nothing but self-extinguishing cigarettes no matter what the state law.
Meanwhile, some Michigan convenience store owners say customers not happy with fire-safe cigarettes. John and Kristi Archer, owners of Belle Plaza Party Store, which has stocked only self-extinguishing cigarettes since October, say their customers have been complaining about the taste.
Because they started selling the fire-safe cigarettes before the first of the year, the Archers have lost business. “We have people who come in and look at our packs to see if they don’t say FSC (Fire Safe Compliant) on it,” said Kristi Archer to the Niles Daily Star. “There’s a different taste. The comment is that there’s more bite to the taste and it makes them cough.”
Dave Singh, owner of Crocker’s Party Store, said cigarette sales at his location dropped nearly in half after he started stocking FSC packs before the January deadline.
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