[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 48 (Thursday, April 25, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3439-S3440]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. 
        Kerry):
  S. 2317. A bill to provide for fire safety standards for cigarettes, 
and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation.
 Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am honored to rise today to 
introduce the Joseph Moakley Memorial Fire Safe Cigarette Act of 2002. 
Joe Moakley started his effort to require less fire-prone cigarettes in 
1979 and championed this issue until his death this past May. It is 
time to finish what he started. My colleagues Senators Brownback, 
Kennedy, and Kerry join me in introducing this legislation to solve a 
serious fire safety problem, namely, fires that are caused by 
cigarettes.
  The statistics regarding cigarette-related fires are startling. 
Cigarette-ignited fires accounted for an estimated 140,800 fires in the 
United States. Such fires cause more than 900 deaths and 2,400 injuries 
each year. More than $400 million in property damage reported is 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

[[Page S3440]]

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. Property losses resulting from those fires were estimated at 
$10.4 million.
  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.
  A Technical Study Group, TSG, was created by the Federal Cigarette 
Safety Act in 1984 to investigate the technological and commercial 
feasibility of creating a self-extinguishing cigarette. This group was 
made up of representatives of government agencies, the cigarette 
industry, the furniture industry, public health organizations and fire 
safety organizations. The TSG produced two reports that concluded that 
it is technically feasible to reduce the ignition propensity of 
cigarettes.
  The technology is in place now to begin developing a performance 
standard for less fire prone cigarettes. The manufacture of less fire-
prone cigarettes may require some advances in cigarette design and 
manufacturing technology, but the cigarette companies have demonstrated 
their capability to make cigarettes of reduced ignition propensity with 
no increase in tar, nicotine or carbon monoxide in the smoke. For 
example, six current commercial cigarettes have been tested which 
already have reduced ignition propensity. Furthermore, the overall 
impact on other aspects of the United States Society and economy will 
be minimal. Thus, it may be possible to solve this problem at costs 
that are much less than the potential benefits, which are saving lives 
and avoiding injuries and property damage.
  The Joseph Moakley Memorial Fire Safe Cigarette Act requires Consumer 
Product Safety Commission to promulgate a fire safety standard, 
specified in the legislation, for cigarettes. Eighteen months after the 
legislation is enacted, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC, 
would issue a rule creating a safety standard for cigarettes. Thirty 
months after the legislation is enacted, the standards would become 
effective for the manufacture and importation of cigarettes. The CPSC 
would also have the authority to regulate the ignition propensity of 
cigarette paper for roll-your-own tobacco products.
  The standard may be modified if new testing methodology enhances the 
fire-safety standard. It may also be modified for cigarettes with 
unique characteristics that cannot be tested using the specified 
methodology if the Commission determines that the proposed testing 
methodology and acceptance criterion predict an ignition strength for 
such cigarettes.
  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.
  The Joseph Moakley Memorial Fire Safe Cigarette Act is supported by 
more than 25 public health groups including the American Cancer 
Society, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and the American Academy of 
Pediatrics. It has been endorsed by the Congressional Fire Services 
Institute and its 42 member organizations. Tobacco giant Phillip Morris 
is also supporting the bill.
  While the number of people killed each year by fires is dropping 
because of safety improvements and other factors, too many Americans 
are dying because of a product that could be less likely to catch fire 
if simple changes were made. Cigarettes may be less likely to cause 
fire if they were thinner, more porous or the tobacco were less dense. 
These common-sense changes could help prevent an all-too-common cause 
of fires.
  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, Massachusetts was not repeated, he made a 
difference. He introduced three bills and passed two of them. 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 we are 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. He didn't have more 
time. Let's get this done for him.
                                 ______