State says cigarettes must be ‘fire-safe’

‘ ‘ ‘ Students huddle outside Lothrop Hall, avoiding the cold and taking in one last cigarette… ‘ ‘ ‘ Students huddle outside Lothrop Hall, avoiding the cold and taking in one last cigarette before running off to class. But these students might find their breaks cut short, because a new law requires some of them to smoke new types of cigarettes. ‘ ‘ ‘ A new law, which went into effect on New Year’s Day, stipulates that state businesses can only sell cigarettes if they’re ‘fire-safe.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ To make cigarettes fire-safe, manufacturers place two to three additional layers of paper in certain sections of the cigarettes, making them thicker in some parts than others. The cigarettes will go out if people smoking them don’t inhale frequently enough before they burn down to the thicker portions. Thus, they self-extinguish. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘If you’re not actively smoking the cigarette and it falls on the couch or the bed or something, it acts as a speed bump that will slow down the burning,’ said Lorraine Carli, spokesperson for the National Fire Protection Association, which created the coalition that lobbied for the fire-safe cigarette legislature. ‘ ‘ ‘ This ‘speed bump’ effect could potentially help prevent deaths caused by fires. Accidental cigarette fires, said Carli, are the leading cause of home fire deaths. ‘ Each year, cigarettes cause fires that kill between 700 and 900 people, and that was the basis for the law, said Carli. ‘ ‘ ‘ Chelsea Bodamer, a Pitt student who has been smoking for the past five years, said she understood the importance of the legislation. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I think it’s a good idea,’ said Bodamer, ‘but it’s flawed in that [the cigarettes] don’t stay lit very well.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Bodamer said that, except for the fact that the cigarettes occasionally extinguish themselves, there isn’t much of a difference between the fire-safe cigarettes and their predecessors. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘If anything, I think it’s good for fire safety in general,’ said Bodamer. ‘ ‘ ‘ Paul Sundo, an assistant store manager at Rite Aid, said the demand for cigarettes hasn’t changed much since the fire-safe ones began filtering into the market. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘People understand that it’s for their own safety,’ said Sundo. ‘People have been more accepting than not.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Sundo said he heard a couple of customers complain about the cigarettes. But even those people said they understood the value of the legislation, said Sundo. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘The hard-core smoker will say that it burns out too quickly, and they’ll have to relight,’ said Sundo. ‘ ‘ ‘ Cigarettes with the safety feature look almost identical to others cigarettes. ‘ ‘ ‘ Carli said people can see a difference if they run a highlighter along the cigarette. The color will fluctuate where the paper is thicker. The letters ‘FSC,’ which stand for ‘fire safety compliant,’ appear on the packages.