Fire-Safe Cigarettes can Save Life and Money

Cigarettes are the cause not only of the people death but also the cause of fire-related deaths for the last 30 years especially in Iowa. That’s why a new state law is intended to reduce all these fires. After the new legislation, on the label packages and cartons of cigarettes on the shelves were printed an indication showing that they are fire-safe cigarettes and are less likely to spark a fire.

Lt. Seth Twedt with the Ames Fire Department, said: "Well each year there’s hundreds of lives that are lost due to smoking and careless smoking and smoking material. Along with that, there’s hundreds of millions of dollars of property loss."

According to a research, twice as many people died this year in fires caused by careless smoking as compared to last year. Researchers think that not cigarettes cause fires but the smokers’ absence of mind. For example Twedt said that five years ago they had one gentleman smoking in bed fell asleep. The cigarette caught his bed and the rest of the apartment on fire. He thinks that it would have been a different story if the cigarette had extinguished itself. This is the main cause why was introduced on the shelves the fire-safe cigarettes.

Fire-safe cigarettes and regular cigarettes are different even visual. The fire-safe version is wrapped with two or three thin bands of less-porous paper to help extinguish the cigarette. And the new cigarettes burn out faster when they’re dropped on the ground or left in an ashtray. They cost the same price, but some smokers say the new cigarettes leave a bad taste in their mouths. That’s why some smokers don’t like the flavor of the fire-safe cigarettes, but other smokers said that they really haven’t noticed a big difference and agree with the concept of a cigarette that is designed to self-extinguish.

The new law goes into effect on Thursday. After that date, every cigarette sold in Iowa must be fire-safe.