Brussels, 14/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - If “cigarettes kill”, they also kill because they cause fires. Therefore, as from 17 November, cigarette manufacturers will only be able to produce self-extinguishing cigarettes. As from Thursday, once the new safety standards enter into force and are published in the EU Official Journal all cigarettes sold in Europe will have to comply with these measures. It will be the role of the national authorities to enforce this new fire safety measure, which is already applied in the US, Canada, Australia and Finland. This will apply to all cigarettes sold on the EU market. Cigarettes that are already on the market can be legally smoked as they are. In an effort to tackle the health scourge caused by smoking, this measure will apply throughout the EU and is expected to save around 500 lives a year. It should make considerable savings with regard to material damage, explains the Commission.
EU Health and Consumer Commissioner, John Dalli said: “There is no such thing as a safe cigarette, and, obviously, the safest thing is not to smoke at all! But if people choose to smoke then the new standards which are about to fully enter into force will require tobacco companies to make only reduced ignition propensity cigarettes, and potentially protect hundreds of citizens from this fire hazard.”
The new European standards (EN 16156/2010 and EN ISO 12863/2010) were developed by the European Committee for Standardisation (ECS) which was commissioned to undertake this task for the European Commission in 2008. They consolidate the directive on general product safety (directive 2001/95/EC), which obliges producers to place only safe products on the market. The change required under the new standards is about reducing ignition propensity, which is the ability of a cigarette left unattended to start a fire. Cigarette paper manufacturers have changed their paper production to insert two rings of thicker paper at two points along the cigarette. If the cigarette is left unattended the burning tobacco will hit one of these rings and should then self-extinguish, because the ring restricts the air / oxygen supply. A RIP cigarette cuts down the burning time, thus reducing the chance to ignite furniture, bedding or other material.
Data from member states covering 2003 to 2008 show that, in the EU, cigarette related fires cause more than 30,000 fires every year, with more than 1,000 deaths and over 4,000 injuries. The experience from Finland, where the number of victims of cigarette-ignited fires has fallen by 43%, suggests that nearly 500 lives could be saved in the EU every year. (AN/transl.fl)