FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Nicole Reigelman House Democratic Communications Office Phone: 717-787-7895 Fax: 717-783-6839 Email: nreigelm@pahouse.net	State Rep. Mark Cohen D-Philadelphia www.pahouse.com/cohen

Cohen wants to limit fires caused by cigarettes

HARRISBURG, July 12 – State Rep. Mark Cohen, D-Phila., has introduced legislation that would require all cigarettes sold in the Commonwealth to be fire-safe.

Cohen said if Pennsylvania were to adopt his legislation (H.B. 1740), the state would join eight others, including New York, that require cigarettes to be fire-safe.

Fire-safe cigarettes are less likely to burn if left unattended by employing a technology in which cigarette manufacturers wrap cigarettes with two or three thin bands of less-porous paper that act as speed bumps to slow down a burning cigarette. If a cigarette is left unattended, the burning tobacco will hit a speed bump and self extinguish, Cohen said.

“Cigarette manufacturers have the capability of making the cigarettes sold in Pennsylvania self extinguishing,” Cohen said. “However it seems the companies are unlikely to employ such practices unless they are mandated to do so.

“This measure would make a substantial difference in reducing the number of cigarette-sparked fires.”

Cohen said hundreds of people are killed and thousands injured every year in the state from cigarettes left unattended that spark residential fires.

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