Smoke out

New state regulations for ‘fire safe’ smokes are a real drag

Cori Chrestensen

Contributor

Smokers, have you noticed that your cigarette seems to go out before you’re done smoking it?

Andrew Coutts has, and he’s not amused.

“It pisses me off,” said Coutts, 23, a general studies student from Ann Arbor. “It’s one of the reasons I’m quitting. I have to hit it more than I want to, just to keep it going.”

As of Jan. 1, cigarette manufacturers must certify their brand families and associated styles as fire safe in order to sell them in Michigan. These cigarettes are specifically manufactured to self-extinguish if left unattended.

Some smokers — and health researchers — haven’t noticed much difference. Others have.

“You have to try harder to smoke them,” said Danielle Payne, 23, of Ann Arbor, who is studying anthropology zoology. “I almost quit.”

These new high-tech cigarettes are made with a chemical, ethylene vinyl acetate, commonly used as carpet glue, which added in strips to the cigarette paper acting as speed bumps to ensure unattended cigarettes do not continue to burn.

“They always go out,” said Pete Burbey, 22, a biochemistry major from Ann Arbor.

Which was the idea when scientists created the fire-safe cigarette that lawmakers quickly embraced. In May of 1979, the Trauma Foundation, based out of San Francisco, started a campaign for fire-safe cigarettes, which brought public attention to the cause after a house fire in Westwood, Mass., that killed five children and their parents. Now 21 states are enforcing fire-safe cigarette laws.

“It’s a great idea to try and help prevent house fires, but the stupidity of America, it’s like the beverage labels that say ‘caution hot’ to warn people from burning their mouths on their coffee,” said Matt Conaway, 23, a finance major from Ypsilanti.

The goal of the new law is to help decrease the leading cause of home-fire fatalities, which kills 700-900 people per year because cigarettes are left unattended, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

“It makes me feel like I’m smoking something I’m not supposed to be,” added Coutts.

“I smoke about half a pack a day, and I hate them,” said Jacob Satterla, 24, of Manchester, a 3-D animation major. “They taste funny and I’m coughing more.”

That’s not surprising, according to a Harvard School of Health study, which concluded that naphthalene can cause headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, anemia, convulsions and comas in high amounts of exposure.

However, the Harvard study, comparing fire-safe cigarettes in New York to those in other states, including Massachusetts (which has no fire-safe cigarette law) concluded in tests of smoke between the two that the majority of toxic compounds, 14 in all, were no different in the brands tested.

“Five compounds were slightly higher in NY brands,” the study concluded. “While this is of interest, there is no evidence that the small increases affect the already highly toxic nature of cigarette smoke.”

Although smokers are widely unhappy with the new law, it isn’t expected to affect sales of cigarettes. In 2004, New York was the first state to enact fire safe cigarette laws and the Harvard study showed that sales have only decreased slightly.

But New York also saw a 33 percent reduction in the number of fire-related deaths and injuries caused by discarded smoking materials, according to the United States Fire Administration.

“This law will have a significant impact on reducing the number of fires, associated deaths, injuries, and property damage caused by discarded or unattended smoking materials,” State Fire Marshal Ronald R. Farr said in a news release. “Because these cigarettes are less likely to ignite fires, this law is a big step in fire protection for Michigan citizens.”

To review the Michigan law, visit: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2009-2010/publicact/pdf/2009-PA-0056.pdf