New state laws taking effect in the beginning of January will make cigarettes more fire safe, but will also prohibit smoking in public places or places of employment. On Aug. 24, 2007 the NC general assembly signed the Fire Safety Standard and Firefighter Protection Act into law. This legislation would require cigarette manufacturers to produce and sell cigarettes which would go out after a few short moments if not drawn on. New York was the first state to pass such laws in 2004.
“I think safety is good for everybody,” said local restaurant owner and smoker Lisa Thordarson. “It’s just like the McDonalds coffee cups, they have to say ‘caution: contents hot.’ Everyone knows that McDonald’s coffee is hot and that cigarettes can cause a fire, I mean that’s logic,” she said, commenting on the redundancy of the law.
James Teems, 22, enjoys a cigarette at the counter inside the Huddle House restaurant in Franklin.
Along with the new safety standard for cigarettes manufactured and sold throughout North Carolina, an imminent ban on public smoking in the state will also go into effect on Jan. 2, 2010. The statewide ban was signed into law by Gov. Bev Perdue on May 19 of last year. The law according to the bill will make smoking “prohibited in all enclosed areas of restaurants and bars.”
The public smoking ban will exclude a number of specific businesses and will not apply to: research facilities studying tobacco, designated smoking rooms in lodging establishments, private residences or vehicles, cigar bars, private clubs, tobacco product manufacturing premises and actors using tobacco in a live production set.
Some local smokers are upset by the new legislation. “Smoking is a privilege and it is legal, so why are they trying to make us stop? That’s what it’s like,” said Michelle Harmon, 45, who has been a smoker now for many years.
What is a fire-safe cigarette? Cigarette packs bought in North Carolina will have the letters “FSC” written above the UPC code of the product, signifying the product to be Fire Standards Compliant. Fire Safety Compliant cigarette features are best explained by North Carolina Fire Marshal Wayne Goodwin who says the fire safety compliant cigarette uses “the most common fire-safe technology used by cigarette manufacturers makes the paper thicker in places which acts as ‘speed bumps’ in slowing down the burning of a cigarette.”
The paper bands, or “speed bumps” added to the cigarette are less porous than the additional surrounding paper. The paper bands placed in the cigarette reduce oxygen intake. This technology focuses on the reduction of fire-related injuries and deaths and is considered simple and cost effective to the cigarette industry. The FSC implementations are expected to “significantly reduce the number of people in N.C. who are killed or injured from mattress or upholstered furniture fires caused by cigarettes left burning,” according to Goodwin.
fire-safe cigarette
Smokers who ‘light up’ can now expect their cigarettes to be less likely to cause a fire if they were to nod off. “I don’t think cigarettes will ever be totally fire safe, because it’s still a burning piece of something,” commented Josh Franks, 29.
Franklin resident Beverly Brendle has been smoking for seven years, and is in favor of the new FSC standard for cigarettes. “When I’m laying down watching T.V. before I go to sleep, I smoke,” she explained. “I don’t mind them [cigarettes] being safer.”
“It’s still the same tobacco, the same filter,” said David Howard on behalf of R.J. Reynolds brand marketing. In response to how their cigarettes have changed, Howard added, “We have not changed the blend. It’s the exact same product, the only difference being at certain intervals in the paper there is just an added thickness in there that could possibly have the cigarette go out when not actively being smoked.”
Phillip Morris, the country’s largest tobacco manufacturer is also wary of public concern. The company states, “FSC cigarettes do not use fire-retardant chemicals in order to meet state fire standards,” and also stresses the bands used to make cigarettes fire safe “use ingredients already used in non-FSC cigarettes.”
FSC cigarette details
According to General Statute 58925, the general assembly reported cigarettes to be “the leading cause of fire deaths in this state and the nation.” This finding along with others corresponds with a study conducted by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The study, titled “U.S Smoking-Material Fire Problems,” found that between the years of 2003 and 2006, 40 percent of fatal home smokingmaterial fire victims were sleeping when they were injured; 34 percent of material fire victims were attempting to escape, to fight the fire or to rescue others. The report also states that in the year 2005, an estimated 800 civilian deaths resulted from cigarette related fires.
Fire-safety in cigarettes is a concept which was first conceived in 1929 by Massachusetts congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers. A fire in Lowell, Mass., prompted Rogers to seek out a “self-snubbing” tobacco product through the National Bureau of Standards. Later on in 1979, Massachusetts congressman Joe Moakley first drafted a federal legislation to introduce fire safety compliant cigarettes.
The Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes is the driving force in pushing state legislation to make cigarettes more fire-safe. The coalition, coordinated by the NFPA, is calling for cigarette companies “to immediately produce and market only cigarettes that adhere to an established cigarette fire safety performance standard.”
So far, all other states have passed legislation which will require cigarette manufacturers to adhere to FSC standards. These FSC laws have become effective in all other states except Wyoming.
Public Smoking Ban Details
According to the bill North Carolina Session Law 2009-27, forbidding public smoking in public establishments, businesses will be required to post signs easily in view of the public “clearly stating that smoking is prohibited.” Indoor ashtrays must also be removed by businesses. Anyone who has been directed to put out their cigarette and still breaks the law will be fined no more than $50.
“As time progresses, so will the compliance,” said Franklin Chief of Police Terry Bradley, who indicated that early on people may not adhere to the new law. “They may in reality not realize that they are breaking the ban. But then people tell them about it and people will become more conscientious of the ban.”
Bradley said enforcement of the ban will be complaint driven. Business establishments will have to call law enforcement if visitors do not live up to the ban. “People typically don’t want to break the law,” he said. “As far as driving around being the smoking police, it wouldn’t be time effective.”
The bill banning smoking in “public places and places of employment” was signed into law by Governor Bev Perdue. North Carolina is not alone in its position on public smoking. According to the lobbying group Americans for Non Smokers’ Rights, the only states with no public bans on smoking are; Alabama, Alaska, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Wyoming and West Virginia.
“I think in restaurants if smoking is banned that’s alright. I don’t think it should be banned in bars. When I’m drinking I will smoke, like, two packs of cigarettes,” Beverly Brendle laughed.
Kim Jakushev is in favor of the ban. “The smoke gets in my nose, I can’t handle that. If we had better ventilation, where it’s not like a cloud, then I am okay with it [public smoking].”
Western North Carolina resident Kelly Gartner has been a smoker for five years. Gartner is in favor of the ban “because people who have asthma or children are very inconvenienced by it,” she said. “I don’t think it’s fair to my kids who have to smell it and inhale [the smoke.]”
Regardless of the ban and high prices of cigarettes, Gartner said she is still not likely to quit. “I can’t stay calm without them,” she laughed.
Cody Martinez of Franklin is not in favor of the ban. “If I am bothering someone with my smoking I will step away or put it out. We have too many stupid laws and rules already. We don’t need anymore,” he said.
Local tobacco user Gabrielle Carver thinks businesses like bars and restaurants will suffer. “You can’t smoke in restaurants anymore, and that’s the whole reason you want to go out. We can’t sit down and have a beer and smoke a cigarette,” she said.
Local businesses respond
Many local businesses that have been known to be smoker-friendly could be affected by this new change in public policy. “I’ve had people tell me that they would go bowling if we weren’t smoking,” said Franklin Lanes manager Jim Crawford. But up to now, he added, “We’ve had no smoking days and typically those were the worst days we’ve had,” Crawford added.
The local bowling alley has not prohibited smoking within its premises otherwise. Within the establishment there is a bar that sees its fair share of tobacco use. “I don’t think it’s going to make a huge difference there. I think as people are learning to go ‘no smoking’ [in public], they will accept it,” he said.
Franklin’s Huddle House is another eating establishment known for its smoker friendly environment. “It’s not going to hurt us too much, because right now I think the biggest majority of the restaurants are smoke free,” said manager Tina Tallent. “It might hurt my coffee drinkers in the morning because I get quite a few that come in at 6 a.m. and like to smoke.”
“I don’t think it’ll affect business,” said Frog and Owl owner Lisa Thordarson. “I think people will adapt. They will have to, obviously.”
The Frog and Owl operates a bar during night hours. “Pretty much our entire Thursday night clientele smokes,” she explained. “It’s better for a dining experience to not be in a smoking scenario. I agree with that 100 percent. But I think it’s kind of silly to dictate to bars.”
Mulligan’s Bar and Grille has an area outside of its establishment designated for smoking. Manager Thomas Alligood does not feel business will be affected by the new ban. “We’ve actually gotten a more positive than negative response on no smoking inside.”
Findings reported within the N.C. Fire-Safety Act
Each year in the United States, 700-900 persons are killed due to cigarette fires, and 3,000 are injured in fires ignited by cigarettes, while in this state, there were 2,916 cigarette-related fires in North Carolina during the period 2001-2006.
— A high proportion of the victims of cigarette fires are nonsmokers, including senior citizens and young children.
— Cigarette-caused fires result in billions of dollars of property losses and damages in the United States and millions of dollars in this State.
— Cigarette fires unnecessarily jeopardize firefighters and result in avoidable emergency response costs for municipalities.
In 2004, New York State implemented a cigarette fire-safety regulation requiring cigarettes sold in that state to meet a fire-safety performance standard; in 2005, Vermont and California enacted cigarette fire-safety laws directly incorporating New York’s regulation into statute; and, in 2006, Illinois, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts joined these states in enacting such laws.
In 2005, Canada implemented the New York State fire-safety standard contained in the other state laws, becoming the first nation to have a cigarette fire-safety standard.
New York State’s cigarette fire-safety standard is based upon decades of research by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, congressional research groups, and private industry.
This cigarette fire-safety standard minimizes costs to the State and minimally burdens cigarette manufacturers, distributors, and retail sellers, and, therefore, should become law in this State.
It is therefore fitting and proper for this State to adopt the cigarette fire-safety standard that is in effect in New York State to reduce the likelihood that cigarettes will cause fires and result in deaths, injuries, and property damages. (2007-451, s. 1.)
Not an anti-smoking campaign
Due to the two laws going into effect at the beginning of 2010, the smoking tobacco in North Carolina will change significantly. Smokers will have to go out to their cars to smoke, or even wait until they get home to light up. The leaf is not gone from the public, only gone from the public view. But, the state fire marshal asserts that “the establishment of Fire-Safe Cigarettes in North Carolina is not an antismoking campaign.”
source: www.maconnews.com
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