N.Y. to Mandate Cigarettes That Go Out on Own
New York will be the first state to require that all cigarettes be manufactured with paper that extinguishes itself if smokers don’t do the job, state officials said Wednesday.
Advocates say the rules, which will go into effect in June, will prevent many of the fires started by careless smoking.
“This could be the beginning of a global standard for cigarettes,” said Blair Horner, legislative director for the New York Public Interest Research Group.
The self-extinguishing cigarettes are wrapped in banded paper, with the bands serving as speed bumps to inhibit burning when no one is puffing on the cigarette. The lower-ignition paper does nothing to reduce the health hazards of smoking.
Every year, fires started by cigarettes kill about 900 Americans, injure 2,500 and cause $400 million in damage, according to the American Burn Assn. and the federal government.
In many cases, smokers fall asleep and their cigarettes drop onto something flammable, such as clothing, furniture or paper.
New York state officials said they would allow retailers to sell off inventories of the old cigarettes after the June deadline.
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