Tobacco.org

EDITORIAL: RIP cigarettes 

Nationally, about 800 people die every year from cigarette-ignited fires. Six people died in Virginia in 2007 from fires caused by cigarettes. . . .

it seems like a long time until Jan. 1, 2010, when the General Assembly's mandate for "fire-safe" cigarettes takes effect. Virginia has been generous in giving tobacco manufacturers and sellers an 18-month window to comply. Since New York began this movement in 2004, other states have clamped down after just a few months.

Though tobacco manufacturers dragged their heels on changing their product back in the 1980s and 1990s, when similar legislation was under federal consideration, they've adapted with remarkable ease as individual states have instituted the new fire-safety standards.

If the tobacco companies can adapt to make their products less combustible (when for more than two decades they denied the possibility), perhaps they're just as capable of making a less harmful, still economically viable, smoke.

Jump to full article »