More states adopt 'safe' cigarettes (UPI)

[eppur_se_muova]

NEW YORK, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- The number of states passing their own laws mandating self-extinguishing cigarettes will rise to 32 this year despite industry opposition, officials say.

By the end of 2009, 14 states will join the 18 that already require, or will require, vendors to purchase and sell only the fire-safe cigarettes, USA Today said. The cigarettes are designed to go out if they are dropped or set aside.

As of Thursday, fire-safe cigarettes are now mandatory in Delaware, Iowa, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Laws go into effect during the year in Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Washington and Wisconsin. Six more states are set to enact laws in 2010.

The U.S. Fire Administration says almost 1,000 smokers and non-smokers die annually in home fires caused by cigarettes and other smoking products.
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more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/01/02/More_states_adopt_safe_cigarettes/UPI-15131230917436/

[Deep13]

1. Sounds reasonable. House fires are nasty. nt

[DJ13]

2. The cigarettes are designed to go out ............

Which forces smokers to keep puffing, causing them to intake more carcinogens than they normally would.

[Deep13]

3. Darwinism in action?

No one is forcing smokers to do anything.

[TahitiNut]

4. It's a bit of a misnomer, since cigarettes have to be treated to stay lit.

Without such treatment, they go out. :shrug: There are Cancer Sticks (Coffin Nails?) sold in tobacco stores that qualify as "little cigars" (and escape taxes) that don't have such treatment ... and they go out if not puffed periodically.

[Warpy]

7. Cigarettes are acutally DESIGNED to keep burning

which makes smokers who forget them in ashtrays while they're working buy more.

Some of my women friends in college switched to cigars because they would go out in an ashtray, to be relit when a break could be taken.

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. They're safe until you open the pack.

Then they'll either kill ya from within or burn the house down.

[MercutioATC]

6. Don't pass laws to save me from myself.

This isn't a product-safety issue, cigarettes are designed to remain lit until extinguished for a reason.

Just another stupid law in the vein of seat belt and motorcycle helmet laws...

[Warpy]

8. Actually, they're trying to protect everybody else

in apartment buildings where smokers live.

It's not always about you, you know.

[MercutioATC]

10. I still believe it's do-gooder overkill.

Outlaw space heaters and hotplates and you'll save more apartment-dwellers.

This is just another "cigarettes are bad so we'll legislate the piss out of them" law.

[backscatter712]

11. OMG, you might actually have to relight your cigarette!

WHATEVER IS THE WORLD GOING TO DO!!! DAMN NANNY-STATERS!!!!!!!111oneoneeleven

[Warpy]

12. All smokers think that

Actually, it's removing the stuff in cigarettes that helps them "burn evenly," which is tobaccoese for "burn down to the filter every time."

If you've ever forgotten a butt in an ashtray while you were working, only to return to a cold line of ash when you've wanted a drag, this should appeal to you.

[BornBlue]

14. Except

that this stuff causes the cig to go out too fast, like within 20 seconds of not being inhaled. Not to mention it changes the taste slightly, but I know, no sympathy for the smoker.

[Deep13]

15. Really? You have figures to demonstrate...

...that appliances are more dangerous than falling asleep with an actual fire burning in your mouth?

[Deep13]

16. I wouldn't dream of it.

This is to protect your neighbors and the fire department people.

And like restrictions on tobacco, helmet and seat belt laws save lives. You may think some bizarre notion of personal freedom is more important than that. That is only a value judgment and not a fact. And I value human life more than the puritan idea of letting people suffer greatly because of a moment of thoughtlessness. Besides, we will never have national health care until the causes of medical expenses--disease and preventable injury--are controlled.

[snappyturtle]

9. Funny how legislation can control smoking to the enth degree and

yet cannot control financial instruments.

[TahitiNut]

13. You noticed that too?

:shrug:

[Deep13]

17. Financial instruments are creatures of law.

They only exist because of the fiction that they have an existence independent from whatever resource they represent. The govt. can and does control them.