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LAW CHANGE
TO PREVENT SMOULDERING CIGARETTES CAUSING FATAL HOUSE FIRES
New Zealand Herald 31 October 2002
1 Jan 07. A man, 18, was burnt to death in a Chelwood St flat in Palmerston
North at 1am Saturday.
The victim fell asleep on the bed while smoking. INL www.stuff.co.nz
Aim: To regulate the cigarette so it self-extinguishes when
discarded, and so prevent fatal fires.
The following change of wording will:
1) clarify that
Ministry of Health, which administers this Act, is responsible for
regulating to control this problem.
2) strengthen the
Act to provide sufficient regulatory powers.
Smoke-free
Environments Act 1990, Section 31. Suggested
changes in bold
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Section
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Current
wording
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Desired
wording
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31
add
same
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Limits on harmful constituents
“No manufacturer or importer may offer
for sale or export any tobacco product or herbal smoking product that-
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Limits on harmful constituents and product design
“No manufacturer or importer may
offer for sale or export any tobacco product or herbal smoking product
that-
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31 (c )
new
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New subsection
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“Is
designed in contravention of fire safety or other health requirements
in regulations made under this Part.”
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31 (c ) (i)
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New
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The fire prevention
standard should require that no more than five cigarettes per carton
of 200 manufactured cigarettes, burn full length under American
Standard Test Method for cigarette self-extinction.
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Section 31 (as above) limits harmful constituents in smoke,
but also needs to control cigarette design so that it may:
1) Greatly reduce
fire deaths and injuries. Every year 2-3 New Zealanders,
including children are killed by cigarette fires, and many injured. Cigarettes cause over 300 fires a
year. A fire safety standard to greatly reduce cigarette fires is
feasible
and acceptable to smokers
but requires changes to cigarette design. New
York type regulations cannot be passed under NZ’s
Smokefree Act, due to lack of powers in s.31.
2)
Permit inclusion of protective features. The Act lacks powers to require
cigarettes to be sold with safety or health promoting features, eg a filter, and in particular a charcoal filter to
reduce cyanide intake, the main smoke hazard causing of heart disease.
Most Maori are smoking hand-rolled (unfiltered) cigarettes.
Background
- Cigarette manufacturers continue to
put fire accelerant in cigarette paper used in manufactured
cigarettes, to ensure they continue to smoulder,
and NZ Government has not regulated to prevent this cause of fires.
- After a private members bill (from
fire fighter MP Grant Gillon) a government
administrative committee several years back referred this issue to
the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
- However the issue may have fallen
between ministries and neither is currently doing anything.
- The Ministry of Health, which
administers the Smoke-free Environments Regulations, has limited
power to regulate the cigarette to fix the problem. (as in New York
State 2004 and in Canada from October 2005).
The
remedy is feasible for cigarette manufacturers and acceptable to smokers
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Cigarette manufacturers comply by selling only fire-safer
cigarettes in New York.
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NZ smokers polled do not object to cigarettes that
self-extinguish – hand rolled cigarettes self-extinguish and this
is accepted, and smokers are aware of the need to prevent cigarette
fires.
Precise
nature of the problem.
Cigarette
paper used to wrap manufactured cigarettes is impregnated with potassium
citrate, to ensure the cigarette burns full length. Hand rolling
cigarette paper does not contain citrate and if used to wrap
manufactured cigarettes, the cigarette self extinguishes very quickly
and does not burn full length. Similarly, hand rolled cigarettes do not
burn full length. See under www.healthnz.co.nz/firesafepubs.htm
or Laugesen, Fraser, et al.
2003; 12: 406-410 www.tobaccocontrol.com
Why
a policy is needed
- Every year several
people die from fires started by discarded cigarettes. Others
suffer disfiguring and painful burns. Often these are children. Cigarette fires are particularly
dangerous, often occurring while people are asleep. Smoke alarms
are insufficient – five were functioning in the house shown
above.
Proposed
policy
- The Ministry of Health
can pass regulations now to ban the use of fire accelerants in
cigarette paper, using its current powers.
- We propose Parliament
should also amend the Smoke-free Environments Act to specifically
require all cigarettes to self-extinguish and not burn full length
- as is already the case with hand rolled cigarettes, with a
tolerance of 2.5% over 200 cigarettes (only 5 cigarettes permitted
to burn full length per carton)
Have
legislators and the Ministry been informed? Yes.
- Health New Zealand
made representations to the Ministry of Health, the Health Select
Committee, and the Ministry’s 2004-5 regulatory review. ASH
has made representations to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
- The NZ Fire Service
has run advertising on television in support of smoke alarms.
However, this would not have prevented the case illustrated
above, in which five fire
alarms were in place and functioning.
- Has the Fire
Commission been informed? Yes ASH wrote to them in
2003.
ACTION POINTS
- Write to the Ministry of Health. Ask
them, will they include a few extra lines in cigarette regulations,
now to be developed until 2007, to prevent these needless deaths
and injuries?
IF NEW YORK AND CANADA
CAN REGULATE, SO CAN NEW ZEALAND.
LEGISLATIVE
PROGRESS, UPDATED TO 1 March 2007
______________________________________________________________
Canada. Regulations
came into force 1 October 2005, based on the New York state law.
New
Zealand. No regulation in place.
Smokers polled, agree to their cigarettes being altered to prevent fires,
even if this means they go out like roll-your-owns. (Laugesen et al 2003
Tobacco Control)
United
States Since
New York passed the nation's first "fire-safe" cigarette
requirement, many states have considered similar laws :
Alabama: Bill
introduced, died without a final vote at session's end.
Alaska: Bill introduced, awaits final votes.
California: Fire-safe
cigarette law passed, effective Jan. 1, 2007.
Delaware: Legislature directed state fire marshal to study need for
such a law.
Georgia: Bill introduced, died without a final vote at session's
end.
Hawaii: Bills in House and Senate await committee action before a
vote.
Illinois: Bill passed into
law 26 May 2006, with effect from 2008.
Maine: Bill introduced, died without a vote at session's end.
Maryland: Bill passed the House, died without a Senate vote at
session's end.
Massachusetts: Fire safe bill signed into law 8 July 2006.
Minnesota: Bill introduced, awaits committee action. No final vote
scheduled.
New Hampshire: Bill passed June
2006, with effect from October 1,
2007.
New Jersey: Bill introduced,
awaits committee votes. No final vote scheduled.
New York. Law in effect since 2004.
Oregon. Law passes House in 23 Feb
07, Senate now to vote.
Pennsylvania: Bill introduced, no final vote scheduled.
Rhode
Island: Bill introduced, awaits
committee action. No final vote scheduled.
Vermont: Fire-safe
cigarette law took effect May 1,
2006
Washington: Bill introduced, died without a vote at session's end.
Wisconsin: Bill introduced, awaits committee action. No final vote
scheduled.
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Peter Eisler. States target
cigarette fire risks. USA Today www.usatoday.com 9 May 2006., and announce@smokefree.net ;
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Tobacco Journal International 1 March 2007. www.tobaccojournal.com
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