Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
SENATE
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

By Mr. DURBIN:

S. 2643. A bill to provide for fire safety standards for cigarettes, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportations

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Cigarette Fire Safety Act of 2004. Joe Moakley started his effort to require less fire-prone cigarettes in 1979 and championed this issue until his death in May of 2001. I am here to finish what he started.

The statistics regarding cigarette-related fires are startling. Cigarette-ignited fires account for an estimated 140,800 fires in the United States. Such fires cause more than 900 deaths and 2,400 injuries each year. Annually, more than $400 million in property damage is reported due to a fire caused by a cigarette. According to the National Fire Protection Association, one out of every four fire deaths in the United States are attributed to tobacco products-by far the leading cause of civilian deaths in fires. Overall, the Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that the cost of the loss of human life and personal property from not having a fire-safe cigarette standard is approximately $4.6 billion per year.

In my State of Illinois, cigarette-related fires have also caused too many senseless tragedies. In 1998 alone, the most recent year for which we have data, there were more than 1,700 cigarette-related fires, of which more than 900 were in people's homes. These fires led to 109 injuries and 8 deaths.

Tobacco companies spend billions on marketing and learning how to make cigarettes appealing to kids. It is not unreasonable to ask those same companies to invest in safer cigarette paper to make their products less likely to burn down a house. The State of New York has taken the first step, and by June 2004, all cigarettes sold in the State will be tested for fire safety and required to self-extinguish. It is time to establish a national standard to ensure that our nation's children, elderly and families are protected.

The Cigarette Fire Safety Act of 2004 requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission to promulgate a fire safety standard, specified in the legislation, for cigarettes. The CPSC would also have the authority to regulate the ignition propensity of cigarette paper for roll-your-own tobacco products. The Act gives the Consumer Product Safety Commission authority over cigarettes only for purposes of implementing and enforcing compliance with this Act and with the standard promulgated under the Act. It also allows states to pass more stringent fire-safety standards for cigarettes.

When Joe Moakley set out more than two decades ago to ensure that the tragic cigarette-caused fire that killed five children and their parents in Westwood, MA was not repeated, he made a difference. He introduced three bills, two of which passed. One commissioned a study that concluded it was technically feasible to produce a cigarette with a reduced propensity to start fires. The second required that the National Institute of Standards and Technology develop a test method for cigarette fire safety, and the last and final bill, the Fire-Safe Cigarette Act of 1999, mandates that the Consumer Product Safety Commission use this knowledge to regulate cigarettes with regard to fire safety.

Today I am here to reintroduce Moakley's bill and to accomplish what he set out to do. I hope that the Commerce Committee will consider this legislation expeditiously and that my colleagues will join me in supporting this effort. Joe waited long enough. Let's get this done for him.