Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Editorial: Where there's smoke there needn't be fire
Virginia should require slightly safer cigarettes.
From the RoundTable blog
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Today's strange thought is "safer cigarettes." That's what some Virginia lawmakers have in mind with bills that would require tobacco companies to manufacture cigarettes that are less prone to starting fires.
The stories are familiar enough. Smoker tosses cigarette out of car window. Smoker falls asleep in chair with cigarette dangling from fingers. Smoker knocks ashtray over in bed while sleeping.
Fires ensue. Property burns. People die.
Nearly half of the states therefore have created fire-safety standards for cigarettes. Meeting the standards usually requires manufacturers to use paper that self-extinguishes when someone discards a burning cigarette. It doesn't prevent every fire, but it reduces their number.
In 2006, unattended smoking material ignited more than 150 residential fires in Virginia. Four people died; more than a dozen were injured. Damage totaled more than $4 million.
A few bills introduced in the General Assembly would adopt safety standards for the commonwealth similar to those in other states. They have bipartisan support and even the backing of large cigarette manufacturers. Indeed, some of the big tobacco companies already are transitioning to the safer products. They seek a level playing field and consistency from state to state.
Virginia should give that to them and make accidental fires less likely.
Not that this change would have more than a trivial effect on smoking-related deaths. Tobacco companies don't want their customers to burn to death, but they are content killing off Americans at a rate in excess of 400,000 smokers per year.
Cigarettes can never be safe. They harm the human body and increase the odds of a number of life-threatening medical problems for smokers and those who must suffer through second-hand exposure.
Nevertheless, they can be a little bit safer if they are less likely to start a fire.
