2000 New York state passes the first state law requiring fire-safe cigarettes. The Fire Safe Cigarette Coalition encourages you to contact your representative and urge him or her to co-sponsor H.R. 1130, the Fire Safe Cigarette Act of 1999. More than a hundred fatal victims are innocent bystanders - children and nonsmokers. Cigarettes are designed to continue burning when left unattended. The typical scenario is the delayed ignition of a sofa, chair or mattress from a lit cigarette that is forgotten or dropped by a smoker whose alertness may be impaired by alcohol or medication.
Cigarettes vary in their potential to start fires, depending on cigarette design and content.
The term fire safe is defined as a cigarette with reduced propensity for starting a fire when dropped or left unattended. The technology needed to produce fire safe cigarettes has been available for over a decade. The American Burn Association has been a strong advocate for the development of fire safe cigarettes for over 15 years, participating in two US Government studies that successfully demonstrated the technical and economic feasibility of commercial production of fire safe cigarettes. The American Burn Association strongly and actively supports local, state and federal legislation mandating development and production of fire safe cigarettes. Burn Registry and the use of computers in the burn center.