ANNAPOLIS, MD. - Careless smoking or improperly disposing of those materials accounts for many deaths and injuries across the country annually, a National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) official told a legislative panel here Tuesday.
The NFPA joined more than a dozen people asking that the Maryland General Assembly pass a safe cigarette law similar to ones now in effect in New York.
In Maryland between 2000-05, 100 of the 468 fire deaths were linked to cigarettes, said Delegate Brian Moe, who is sponsoring the legislation.
If enacted, the bill would prohibit the sale of cigarettes that do not meet certain fire safety standards. Made of ultra thin paper and equipped with special bands, they will go to the next ring and out if not inhaled.
Packs of Marlboros were passed to show members of the Economic Matters Committee to show that it's almost impossible to tell the difference between a regular smoke and a fire-safe cigarette.
"This is not an anti-smoking bill. It's about saving lives and property," Moe said adding that in addition to New York, Vermont, California and Canada also require the sale of safe cigarettes. "Illinois will be bringing it to the floor soon as well."
Kathleen Hoke Dachille, managing director of the Maryland Center for Tobacco Regulation, said last year in the state, 23 people were killed by fires triggered by careless smoking or improperly disposing of them.
Under the proposal, the manufacturer will have to have their products certified every three years that they meet the requirements.
Andrew McGuire, of the NFPA, who told the panel he has testified in 15 states considering similar legislation, said: "It's an issue whose time has come." He also spoke of the millions of dollars' damage caused annually by smoking materials.
Cathy Hedrick said the safe cigarettes also will mean a reduction in injuries and deaths to first responders and firefighters. "My son died in an attempted rescue of a boy in a house fire, a fire that also claimed the life of that 7-year-old boy."
She said the requirement will "prevent more senseless deaths."
Three opponents, tobacco manufacturers, spoke about the increase in toxicity of safe cigarettes. In addition, they question whether the safe smokes would make that much of a difference in reducing fires.
Jim Good, of R.J. Reynolds, also said there would be customer impact and distribution problems if they were forced to sell the safe cigarettes.
Maryland Fire Marshal Bill Barnard said he was told last week that figures about New York
