Safer Cigarettes
Since the early 1990s, the Canada Safety Council has been at the forefront in advocating the manufacture and marketing of “fire safe” cigarettes. Self-extinguishing cigarettes protect against irresponsible behaviour — falling asleep with a lit cigarette, discarding it carelessly or leaving it unattended. Smokers' materials are the leading cause of fire-related fatalities and loss in Canada.
Proposed regulations under the Tobacco Act would require tobacco manufacturers to meet an ignition propensity standard intended to reduce the fire-risk of cigarettes. Canada would be the first country to have a national cigarette ignition propensity standard, once these regulations are enacted.
The regulations would require all cigarettes manufactured or imported for sale in Canada to meet a performance standard whereby no more than 25 per cent of cigarettes tested burn their full length when tested on 10 layers of filter paper using the Standard Test Method for Measuring the Ignition Strength of Cigarettes. All cigarettes manufactured in or imported into Canada would have to meet the standard by October 1, 2005.
Health Canada points out that it is impossible to make a burning object completely fire-safe. However, these regulations will save lives by significantly reducing the number of fires started by cigarettes.
For further information visit www.gosmokefree.ca
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