States Pass Legislation on Fire-Safe Cigarettes

32 States Will Require All Cigarettes to Be Fire-Safe in 2009

By the end of 2009, 32 states will require cigarettes be self-extinguishing. Eighteen of these states already require that cigarettes sold by vendors be fire-safe. These relatively new fire-safe cigarettes are designed to go out if they are dropped, or forgotten about in the ashtray.

As of January 1, 2009, fire-safe cigarettes are mandatory in Delaware, Iowa, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Throughout 2009, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Washington, and Wisconsin will also put their fire-safe cigarette laws into effect. Six more states are set to enact laws in 2010, and even seven others are currently working on their own self-extinguishing cigarette laws.

The only states, as of now, that have not filed legislation related to fire-safe cigarettes are Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, Arizona, Mississippi, Alabama, and West Virginia.

Canada requires fire-safe cigarettes nationwide using the New York standard. Australia will put their fire-safe regulations into effect in March of 2010. The European Union will have to be fire-safe by 2011, and Switzerland is planning the follow the European Union's lead.

These state actions are coming after more than 30 years of tobacco companies opposing safe cigarette legislation at the federal level.

Fire-safe, or self-extinguishing, cigarettes sport what has been called 'speed bumps'. When the burning tobacco reaches one of these speed bumps it will extinguish itself. The speed bumps are to be made of thicker filter paper.

New York was the first state to pass fire-safe cigarette laws in 2004.

Some tobacco companies have agreed to make all of their cigarettes fire-safe while others have agreed to work with each state and proved fire-safe cigarettes only in states that are requiring them.