This is a preventable tragedy. The tobacco companies know how to manufacture cigarettes that are self-extinguishing and significantly less likely to cause fires, but have refused to voluntarily use this technology in all cigarettes they sell. As a result, three states – New York, Vermont and California – have passed laws setting cigarette fire-safety standards that require the tobacco companies to use this life-saving technology.

Since New York's pioneering law took effect June 28, 2004, cigarettes sold in New York have contained bands of paper that act as speed bumps and cause lit cigarettes to self-extinguish when left unattended. Vermont's law will take effect in May 2006, while the California law takes effect January 1, 2007. In October 2005, Canada became the first country to implement a nationwide cigarette fire-safety standard.

There is growing evidence that New York's law is working to save lives.

A January 2005 study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that the self-extinguishing cigarettes sold in New York are significantly less likely to ignite fires when left unattended compared with the same brands sold in other states. The study also found that the self-extinguishing cigarettes are accepted by consumers, eliminating an excuse the tobacco companies give for failing to use this technology in all cigarettes.

In addition, the number of people killed by cigarette-related fires fell by about a third in New York during the first year of the new state law, according to the New York Office of Fire Prevention and Control (see Associated Press story).

The public health community calls on every state to pass legislation identical to the New York law that would require the tobacco industry to sell only self-extinguishing cigarettes. We also call on the tobacco companies to voluntarily use self-extinguishing technology in all cigarettes to prevent needless injuries and deaths from cigarette-caused fires.