A new Pennsylvania law to help prevent smoking-related fires will require that cigarettes sold in the state perform well when tested using ASTM International standard E2187, Test Method for Measuring the Ignition Strength of Cigarettes.
"Careless smoking is one of the leading causes of fires, killing hundreds and injuring thousands every year," said Rep. Tim Solobay, a volunteer firefighter who sponsored the bipartisan legislation requiring reduced ignition propensity cigarettes. While any lit cigarette is a potential fire hazard, cigarettes that perform well in the ASTM standard are less likely to start fires when left unattended. Such cigarettes typically use paper with additional thin bands along the tube, which create "speed bumps" to extinguish a burning cigarette when it is not being actively smoked.
"Cigarette fires kill approximately 1,000 people, injure another 3,000 and cost Americans more than $6 billion annually," said Solobay, who also serves as the fire chief for Canonsburg, Pa. "As a firefighter and lawmaker, I am pleased that this measure won such strong support. The new law will help prevent fires and save lives across the state."
Backed by state fire commissioner Edward Mann and fire safety advocacy groups, the Pennsylvania law won unanimous approval in the state legislature before being signed into law by Governor Ed Rendell. Since 2003, 37 U.S. states have adopted similar ignition-resistant cigarette laws. The law will reduce the potential for cigarette-related fires in Pennsylvania, the sixth most populous state in the U.S., which is also the state where ASTM International headquarters is located.
"This ASTM standard, and the scientific rigor in its development, has paved the way for reducing the loss of life from the single most prevalent cause of fire deaths in the United States," says Richard Gann, Ph.D., an ASTM international member and senior research scientist with the Building and Fire Research Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Md. Gann led the research team that studied how cigarettes ignite home furnishings and that developed the test method on which E2187 is based. The test, which is under the jurisdiction of ASTM International Committee E05 on Fire Standards, measures the capability of a cigarette to continue burning and potentially ignite items such as bedding or upholstered furniture.
ASTM Committee E05 maintains E2187 and more than 50 other fire safety standards. Participation in the technical committee, which is composed of fire safety advocates, engineers, manufacturers and scientists, is open to all those interested. In remarks to ASTM International, Gov. Rendell stated, "Pennsylvania's cigarette fire safety law recognizes the importance of ASTM International's fire safety standards, and I thank the volunteer members of ASTM Committee E05 for their commitment to improving fire safety."
ASTM International's commitment to reducing loss from cigarette-ignited fires has also led it to be part of the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes, a group organized and led by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The coalition, which includes ASTM International, fire service personnel, consumer and disabled rights advocates, medical and public health practitioners and other groups, works to save lives and prevent injuries and damage from fires caused by cigarettes, and it calls on manufacturers to produce and market cigarettes that perform well in the E2187 test.
Outside the U.S., Canada based its ignition-resistant cigarettes law on E2187. Other countries are also considering requirements similar to the Pennsylvania law.
For more information about ASTM Committee E05, contact Thomas O'Toole, staff manager, ASTM International (phone: 610-832-9739; totoole@astm.org).
Resources:
For more information about ASTM International Committee E05, click here.
For an article with more information about E2187 and its development as well as the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes/National Fire Protection Association, click here.
Release #8016