Repeal Fire Safe Cigarette Laws
A Petition to Repeal Fire Safe Cigarette Law
Citizens Against Fire Safe Cigarettes (CAFSC)
Author: David Jaromnak
Date: 11/15/08
The Fire Safe Cigarette Initiative promoted by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the Coalition for Fire Safe Cigarettes has resulted in laws in affect or passed, pending enforcement in States/Commonwealths requiring all retail locations to sell only Fire Safe Cigarettes (FSC) to consumers. Fire safe cigarettes have two layers of paper with %u201Cspeed bumps%u201D mixed with higher levels of chemicals than regular cigarettes. Such FSC cigarettes will burn out within one minute if the cigarette is not inhaled. The Citizens Against Fire Safe Cigarettes appeal to State/Commonwealth governments to review the facts and repeal the FSC laws. Failure to do so will result in increased health costs and deaths. If not repealed, the CAFSC will seek legal recourse through the judicial system and State Superior Courts. If necessary, the appeal will be made to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Identified Hazards
1) Cigarette company literature and health officials have identified %u201Clight%u201D cigarettes as no less dangerous than regular cigarettes. Such light cigarettes contain equal amounts of carbon monoxide. The affect and harm of cigarette smoke varies depending upon the smoker%u2019s habit of taking longer, deeper and more frequent puffs on the cigarette. This is a widely accepted fact. Fire Safe Cigarettes require that a smoker inhale in less than one minute or the cigarette will extinguish itself. The need to keep a FSC cigarette burning increases the number of inhales per cigarette, and thus increases the amount of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide intake into the smoker%u2019s lungs. The result is more health-risk damage to the smoker.
2) The Fire Safe Cigarette design has resulted in more frequent ash, which may fall and ignite more fires than regular cigarettes.
3) Having to relight cigarettes increases the potential for more fire related accidents with matches and lighters.
4) The added and higher level chemicals contained in FSC cigarettes has proven to be more toxic than regular cigarettes and cause increased health related problems for smokers. Symptoms/conditions include, but are not limited to: Nausea, Sores in mouth and throat, Dry throat, constant headaches, extreme coughing, tightness in the chest, vomiting, body aches, pain in the abdomen and respiratory conditions including asthma and bronchitis.
a. The Harvard School of Health reported that when comparing NY Cigarettes (FSC) versus Regular Cigarettes, the FSC cigarettes produced 13.9% more Naphthalene and 11.4% more carbon monoxide than regular cigarettes.[1] Naphthalene is commonly found in moth balls, and exposure in high amounts can result in %u201CSymptoms of acute exposure include headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, malaise, confusion, anemia, jaundice, convulsions, and coma.%u201D[2] Therefore, it has been proven that FSC cigarettes contain higher levels of chemicals that are harmful to smokers.
b. Phillip Morris USA has reported that the Adhesive ethylene vinyl acetate and polyvinyl acetate are used in the non-tobacco ingredients of cigarettes produced as a Side-seam adhesive. However, Phillip Morris USA fails to distinguish the differences in levels between regular and FSC cigarettes. The amount does not exceed .6 % combined.[3] Since additional layers of paper are used in FSC cigarettes, more adhesive is needed in the form of ethylene vinyl acetate.
Safe smoking habits of responsible adults prevent fatalities from burning cigarettes. It is up to individuals to responsibly extinguish cigarettes. The creation of FSC cigarettes has created numerous hazards which cause more fatalities and problems than the small amount of lives saved from fires with the FSC cigarettes in use. Not only are the FSC cigarettes unsafe to smokers, it presents health problems and increases the damage of cigarettes. Due to inadequate testing by Cigarette Companies and government agencies, the FSC cigarette poses real and identified dangers to the smoking public. Therefore, the FSC laws are detrimental to the public good and must be repealed immediately.
All who hereto sign this petition support the immediate repeal of all FSC laws and support an allowance for Cigarette Companies to resume selling %u201Cregular cigarettes%u201D in retail stores within all States/Commonwealths in the United States of America.
Signed,
Citizens Against Fire Safe Cigarettes
[1] %u201CFire Safer Cigarettes %u2013 The Effect of the New York State Fire Safety Standard On Ignition Propensity, Smoke Toxicity, and the Consumer Market%u201D, Alpert/Carpenter/Connolly/Rees/Wayne and Harvard School of Public Health, 2005, http://firesafecigarettes.org/assets/files/HarvardStudy.pdf
[2] %u201CNaphthalene%u201D, Technology Transfer Network, Air Toxics Web Site, United States Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/naphthal.html
[3] %u201CCigarettes-Ingredients-Non-Tobacco Ingredients%u201D, Phillip Morris USA, http://www.philipmorrisusa.com/en/cms/Products/Cigarettes/Ingredients/Non_Tobacco_Ingredients/default.aspx?src=top_nav
A Petition to Repeal Fire Safe Cigarette Law
Citizens Against Fire Safe Cigarettes (CAFSC)
Author: David Jaromnak
Date: 11/15/08
The Fire Safe Cigarette Initiative promoted by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the Coalition for Fire Safe Cigarettes has resulted in laws in affect or passed, pending enforcement in States/Commonwealths requiring all retail locations to sell only Fire Safe Cigarettes (FSC) to consumers. Fire safe cigarettes have two layers of paper with %u201Cspeed bumps%u201D mixed with higher levels of chemicals than regular cigarettes. Such FSC cigarettes will burn out within one minute if the cigarette is not inhaled. The Citizens Against Fire Safe Cigarettes appeal to State/Commonwealth governments to review the facts and repeal the FSC laws. Failure to do so will result in increased health costs and deaths. If not repealed, the CAFSC will seek legal recourse through the judicial system and State Superior Courts. If necessary, the appeal will be made to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Identified Hazards
1) Cigarette company literature and health officials have identified %u201Clight%u201D cigarettes as no less dangerous than regular cigarettes. Such light cigarettes contain equal amounts of carbon monoxide. The affect and harm of cigarette smoke varies depending upon the smoker%u2019s habit of taking longer, deeper and more frequent puffs on the cigarette. This is a widely accepted fact. Fire Safe Cigarettes require that a smoker inhale in less than one minute or the cigarette will extinguish itself. The need to keep a FSC cigarette burning increases the number of inhales per cigarette, and thus increases the amount of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide intake into the smoker%u2019s lungs. The result is more health-risk damage to the smoker.
2) The Fire Safe Cigarette design has resulted in more frequent ash, which may fall and ignite more fires than regular cigarettes.
3) Having to relight cigarettes increases the potential for more fire related accidents with matches and lighters.
4) The added and higher level chemicals contained in FSC cigarettes has proven to be more toxic than regular cigarettes and cause increased health related problems for smokers. Symptoms/conditions include, but are not limited to: Nausea, Sores in mouth and throat, Dry throat, constant headaches, extreme coughing, tightness in the chest, vomiting, body aches, pain in the abdomen and respiratory conditions including asthma and bronchitis.
a. The Harvard School of Health reported that when comparing NY Cigarettes (FSC) versus Regular Cigarettes, the FSC cigarettes produced 13.9% more Naphthalene and 11.4% more carbon monoxide than regular cigarettes.[1] Naphthalene is commonly found in moth balls, and exposure in high amounts can result in %u201CSymptoms of acute exposure include headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, malaise, confusion, anemia, jaundice, convulsions, and coma.%u201D[2] Therefore, it has been proven that FSC cigarettes contain higher levels of chemicals that are harmful to smokers.
b. Phillip Morris USA has reported that the Adhesive ethylene vinyl acetate and polyvinyl acetate are used in the non-tobacco ingredients of cigarettes produced as a Side-seam adhesive. However, Phillip Morris USA fails to distinguish the differences in levels between regular and FSC cigarettes. The amount does not exceed .6 % combined.[3] Since additional layers of paper are used in FSC cigarettes, more adhesive is needed in the form of ethylene vinyl acetate.
Safe smoking habits of responsible adults prevent fatalities from burning cigarettes. It is up to individuals to responsibly extinguish cigarettes. The creation of FSC cigarettes has created numerous hazards which cause more fatalities and problems than the small amount of lives saved from fires with the FSC cigarettes in use. Not only are the FSC cigarettes unsafe to smokers, it presents health problems and increases the damage of cigarettes. Due to inadequate testing by Cigarette Companies and government agencies, the FSC cigarette poses real and identified dangers to the smoking public. Therefore, the FSC laws are detrimental to the public good and must be repealed immediately.
All who hereto sign this petition support the immediate repeal of all FSC laws and support an allowance for Cigarette Companies to resume selling %u201Cregular cigarettes%u201D in retail stores within all States/Commonwealths in the United States of America.
Signed,
Citizens Against Fire Safe Cigarettes
[1] %u201CFire Safer Cigarettes %u2013 The Effect of the New York State Fire Safety Standard On Ignition Propensity, Smoke Toxicity, and the Consumer Market%u201D, Alpert/Carpenter/Connolly/Rees/Wayne and Harvard School of Public Health, 2005, http://firesafecigarettes.org/assets/files/HarvardStudy.pdf
[2] %u201CNaphthalene%u201D, Technology Transfer Network, Air Toxics Web Site, United States Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/naphthal.html
[3] %u201CCigarettes-Ingredients-Non-Tobacco Ingredients%u201D, Phillip Morris USA, http://www.philipmorrisusa.com/en/cms/Products/Cigarettes/Ingredients/Non_Tobacco_Ingredients/default.aspx?src=top_nav
The side effects are UNBEARABLE!!! If these cigarette companies want to keep their loyal customers they would reverse this change. If this is not reversed, I will do what ever it takes to quit smoking. I will also tell every smoker I know to join me. I sell cigarettes to customers at my place of employment. I will suggest to all my cigarette customers that they should quit aswell. All due to this evil FSC! P.S. People that have problems catching their belongings on fire with cigarettes, shouldn't be smoking in the first place. Why punish all of us that are responsable for our own actions?
fire safe but not people safe
stay out of my home and my personal life. Let me smoke or not if *I* choose.
I have been wondering why I am coughing constantly; why my cigarettes taste funny and go out if I talk for a few seconds and have found out they have added even more poison to cigarettes in the FSC addition. I know smoking is a major health hazard, but for now I choose to continue smoking. I believe they have put this poison in to either force smokers to quit or to kill us off. If I want a fire safe cigarette, I should have that CHOICE as well and if I don't, I could choose smokes without this crap. This is another move by the government that is senseless.
these are a henderence. you can't stop people from running with scissors.
I hate these "fire safe" cigarettes. They taste bad and it's not relaxing to smoke them. Have to keep dragging hard on them to keep them lit. I am very concerned about having additional chemicals in my body. I don't believe it can actually prevent fires and make it worth all the money spent on this legislation!!!
this RFC stuff also makes the cig tast nasty im rollin my own its pretty bad I want my old cig back whay do I feel like someone is making me quit smoking
These cigarettes are actually causing more burns in my house!! The lit ember constantly falls out, and when you need to relight them the non burning paper sets up a large flame. additionally, they taste horrible!
These cigarettes are dropping something out of them. While smoking, occasionally a small spark or ember will fall out and burn my hand or fingers. The burn is not visible, but very painfull and small, like having a needle constantly poking my finger for about 12 hours. I do not smoke a lot, but this is somewhat irritating. Not to mention the fact that going back and fourth between FSC and non-fsc cigarettes is very noticeable to me. I feel less throat irritation when I smoke non-fsc cigarettes. I question the longterm effects of this. Asbestos was used without knowledge of longterm effects, I think we shouldnt add rish to smoking as there is already enough involved.
Since stores switched to FSC, I have developed a cough that I never had before along with a soar throat. Cigarettes do not burn as well, and obviously the health risks are much greater than they were before.
I absolutely HATE this FSC enforcement!! I have noticed a major difference in taste and discomforts! It is like they added toxic glue and are forcing cancer on smokers ~ how can this be legal! I realize this will not be changed! There is always the majority over the minority! And who ends up winning? Not the minority, that's for sure! Did someone say Soylent Green! I will search for a way to find non FSC purchases in any way possible to avoid being subjected to government toxic harmful enforcement!
THEY ARE VERY UN SAFE CIGARETTES THEY BURN WORSE THAN THE NON FSC
According to the internet in 2006 there was over 700 fires due to tobacco that caused deaths nationwide. However, that same year there was over 43,000 alcohol related deaths! First we're taxed beyond reason. Then practically banished from smoking in any public place. And now without so much as a 'fair warning', we've all become 'lab rats' in some sort of potentially dangerous experiment! I am sick and tired of a supposed freedom based goverment running my life. With a President that smokes, perhaps this petition should find its way to his desk too?
I am signing this petition because i have been coughing, have had a sore throat, and have had chest pain since the fire-safe cigarettes have been sold. I am especially angry about it because it is not obvious on the packaging that the cigarettes have been changed. I would not have found out if someone else had not told me that a new chemical has been added.
The FSC contains chemicals which ARE toxic, despite what has (not) been tested. What happened to the days that tobacco and paper are the only things in a cigarette? Indiana just started this crap. Now, with them complaining about the cost of health care for smokers...wait until they see what the FSC chems do! It'll double the amount of healthcare costs for smokers who didn't have any problems smoking before! I started hacking, coughing, with a sore throat when I smoke a pack of FSCs. However, I had brought back a few packs of NON-FSC smokes from Florida...guess what, I stopped when I smoke those. And, then when I ran out and bought a pack of FSCs again...hacking, coughing, etc. Hmmm. Let's get rid of the FSC crap, or make the healthcare cost go through the roof! If you have a cough from FSC...go to your local free/low-cost clinic and rack up the bills!
Thanks for the extra sickening chemicals!
I agree with April in Wyoming - but let's also add the illegal drug dealers/addicts - crime runs rampant from this and our children's lives are more victimized by illegal drugs than smokes. Why doesn't our Government clean up the ILLEGAL activities before targeting the STILL LEGAL ones! And I don't agree that these cigarettes are safer - they constantly go out which means more lighting and when one is driving that adds another safety hazard to the roads!!!!!
I don't need the extra chemicals to shorten my lifespan!
I would bet that most people who have started a fire from a cigarette had passed out DRUNK!!! I have quit smoking and i am very upset!!! my only means of relaxation is ruined!!! I am not okay with smoking now because they taste terrible and i know the added chemicals have not been tested! And why bother...if us smokers die, our children sue, the tobacco companies go under,And everybody wins HUH?????
www.zeitgeistmovie.com it will let you know what the government is really up to. very interesting
Just stop smoking.
Firesafe Cigarettes have made me tremendously nauseated. I've had more issues STARTING fires with them, because I'm constantly relighting cigarettes. Also, this is victimizing the tobacco companies. Tobacco companies as well as any other business have the right to make their products sell, and with the FSC law, no one wants to purchase cigarettes. ALSO this law is making many people paranoid of genocide....trying to poison us smokers? show some love.
As a long time smoker, I feel it is important that even tho' I wilingly smoke, and accept those risks, that NO MORE additives be put in our tobacco.
why are you always picking on the smokers, why not pick on the thousands that are overweight, or the drinkers that drive, or the people using cell phones and driving and causing accidents. I think our government has more to worry about than people who smoke, and by the way, we know cigarettes are not great for us, but neither is taking nerve pills or the other things I listed.
every smoker is speaking out about this surely you realize that fsc cigarettes have more cons than pros the consumers simply are not satisfied
It's all about the consumer. In essence it's a good idea, but take out all of the chemicals. Please. I've had pneumonia for the last 3 weeks since these things were introduced to my lungs.
This is perhaps the best example of our government getting involved with another aspect of our lives that they do not need to be involved in. By the way shouldn't they be fixing the financial crisis instead of screwing around with cigaretts ?
These smokes are terrible.Getting sore throat and phlem. Never had these problems before. Who do I sue!!!!!
STOP SELLING THESE r.i.p. cigs
I want all but no under age smoking laws repelled and all State taxes on tobacco.What a bunch of hypocrites to condemn the us of tobacco on one hand and the over tax it on the other,
you cant have it both way ..if you tax it dont screw with it
These cigarettes are awfull, the ashes fall off and burn me more than before. They also give me headaches and make me nauseaus. Not only are they more harmfull to our health, but they are making people physically ill. We smokers should be able to decide what we want to smoke, not the government.
We are all missing the point. This is yet another attempt, a successful attempt I will add, by the Obama communist regime to enslve American citizens. As they are unable to enslave or control the criminal element in this country, they legislate against law abiding citizens. When is the last time you saw a speed trap set up in the ghetto? Beginning of the end? I fear it may be too late to stop the socialistic path we are already traversing by this NEW governmment. Well, most of YOU voted this guy in, welcome to the Obama anarchy!
The FSC garbage cigarettes their selling now make my chest hurt, hard to breathe, makes me smoke double what I used to, which was a pack a day or so. I know its for a good cause to do this to cigarettes for the reasons of not burning down a home or forest and to make people quit, but as for me, I smoke and I like to smoke. It's the only thing I do, I don't drink or do drugs or pills. I think it should be a vote for your right to smoke the better tasting cigarettes. And wait the best part is you don't smoke as much, you can breathe easier and you don't feel like you're going to die, although you still are, not the point! If you smoked like a champ before they did this, then you're screwed. I'm signing this in the act of my health, well most of it, and my pocket book!!
Damned government
I agree with all of this. I have burnt my hair, my face, nose, carpet, blankets couch. I have Never Ever burnt anything prior to " FIRE SAFE CIGARETTES".
dimitri lefteroff
