Jan 1, 2008 9:30 pm US/Eastern
Stores Must Sell Fire Safe Cigarettes Only
BROCKTON, Mass. (WBZ) ―
Beginning Tuesday, stores must begin selling fire safe cigarettes in the state of Massachusetts.
The law went into effect the same day two people were left hospitalized in Brockton Tuesday after a fire broke out in the home. Investigators believe the fire was started by the improper disposal of cigarettes.
Cigarettes are one the No. 1 cause of fires that result in death.
An elderly resident at a Jamaica Plain nursing home was killed in a fire caused by a cigarette over the weekend.
But now firefighters may get some help with the new law that went in effect Tuesday, requiring stores to sell fire safe cigarettes, or FSC. The special cigarettes are designed to burn themselves out when they are not inhaled, helping to prevent fires from cigarettes that are left unattended.
While the fire safe cigarettes burn out faster than regular cigarettes, smokers are warned to take caution because the fire-safe cigarettes can still take a few minutes to burn out.
Research from the mid 80s predicted fire safe cigarettes would eliminate three of four fire deaths.
Big markets such as California and New York already have the law in effect.
When New York passed its FSC law, smoking-related fire deaths in one year dropped from 29 to 6.
Massachusetts is one of 22 states that bans the sale of anything but fire-safe cigarettes.
The tobacco industry may soon make the laws a moot point. R.J. Reynolds has already announced that by the end of next year all of its cigarettes will be fire-safe.
To avoid being stuck with cigarettes without the FSC stamp, local retailers said their distributors started shipping the fire safe cigarettes to stores months ago to make sure the turnover was complete by Jan. 1, 2008.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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