BOSTON—Lawmakers,
fire officials, advocates and victims’ families celebrated the passage
of the Fire-Safe Cigarettes Bill on Tuesday at a state house reception.
On July 8, Governor Romney signed the bill into law, making
Massachusetts the sixth state in the country to require tobacco
companies to sell only self-extinguishing cigarettes.
Cigarette-ignited
fires are the leading cause of home fire deaths in Massachusetts and
nationwide, killing 700 to 900 Americans each year according to the
National Fire Protection Association. According to the most recent year
of analyzed fire data, cigarettes caused 1,386 fires in Massachusetts.
“Smoldering
cigarettes are killers,” said MASSPIRG Consumer Advocate Eric Bourassa.
“So it’s with great satisfaction that we celebrate the passage of a
bill that will hold the tobacco industry more accountable, requiring
them to make cigarettes that are less likely to start a fire.”
The
bill was championed by state Senator Stephen Brewer (Barre) and state
Representative Rachel Kaprielian (Watertown), the lead sponsors in the
legislature.
Similar
laws requiring self-extinguishing cigarettes have passed in California,
New York, Vermont, Illinois, New Hampshire and for the entire country
of Canada.
The
bill was named for the Kearney family of West Roxbury who lost six
people in one of Boston’s deadliest fires, a 1990 Roslindale blaze that
claimed the lives of Maureen Kearney O'Neill; her husband, Myles; their
three daughters Charlene, 3; Stacy, 2; and Liana, 10 months, and a
family friend.
At
the state house reception a coalition of fire safety groups, the
Massachusetts Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes, presented Sen.
Brewer, Representative Kaprielian and members of the Kearney family
with awards for their tireless effort in passing the bill.
The
Massachusetts Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes includes American
Academy of Pediatrics, MA chapter, American Burn Association, American
Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association
of MA, American Lung Association of Norfolk County, American Lung
Association of Western MA, Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America,
NE Chapter, Boston Public Health Commission, Campaign For Tobacco Free
Kids, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Fire Chiefs Association of MA, Fire
Prevention Officers Association of MA, Firefighters Burn Fund,
Victoria, B.C., GlaxoSmithKline, Harvard University Health Services,
Institute for Health and Recovery, International Association of Black
Firefighters, Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians, Massachusetts
Association of Health Boards, Massachusetts Association of Health
Nurses, Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, Massachusetts
Association of Public Health Nurses, Massachusetts Call/ Volunteer
Firefighters Association, Massachusetts Consumers Coalition,
Massachusetts Medical Society, Massachusetts Nurses Association,
Massachusetts Public Health Association, Massachusetts Pharmacists
Association, MASSPIRG, Massachusetts Prevention Center of Greater
Western MA, The Medical Foundation, National Fire Protection
Association, Natick Kiwanis Club, New England Coalition for Cancer
Survivorship, The Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, Professional
Firefighters of Massachusetts, Quincy Firefighters Association 792,
Statewide Coordinating Committee of the MA Tobacco Control Program,
Shriners Burn Hospital, Boston, Tobacco Control Research Center,
Tobacco Free Mass Coalition, Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, Smoke-Free Kids, Inc.
