[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 96 (Tuesday, July 13, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8034-S8035]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      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

[[Page S8035]]

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.
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