CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - Tuesday, October 16, 1979



JOHN JOSEPH MOAKLEY 9TH DISTRICT, MASSACHUSETTS 



Mr. Moakley: Mr. Speaker, the story of the careless use of smoking materials leading to the destruction of life and home is all too familiar. According to the U.S, Fire Administration, cigarettes represent the No.1 national cause of both injuries and fire deaths in residential dwellings. 



During 1978, there were 70,000 smoking-related fires across the country, and a resulting 1,800 deaths, 4,000 injuries, and $180 million in economic losses. The saddest part of these statistics is that these fires could have been prevented. 



The Cigarette Safety Act (H.R. 5504) requires that Cigarettes stop burning within a period of 5 minutes if they are not smoked during such period. So not to create additional health risks, it also requires that the levels of tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide of self-extinguishing cigarettes not increase by more than 5 percent of the level that these cigarettes would have been had this feature not been required, 



The majority of cigarettes are manufactured by including chemical additives, such as citrate or phosphate salts, which promote slow, continuous burning. Research has shown that a freshly lit cigarette wil1 burn approximately 24 minutes when placed on a flat surface. A lit cigarette dropped into a piece of upholstered furniture will start to smolder within 10 to 15 minutes, and a fire may start within 30 or more minutes. 



The capability to manufacture se1f-extinguishing cigarettes is recognized. There are over 15 patents registered with the Federal Government that have demonstrated self-extinguishing features for cigarettes. The cigarette manufacturing companies have not shown the inclination nor the initiative to implement these available techniques, and I believe the serious nature of this problem merits congressional action. 



I would like to stress that this is not an anti-smoking hill. I believe the decision to smoke or not to smoke should be left up to the individual. Nor will self-extinguishing cigarettes interfere with an individual's smoking habits since the typical smoker puffs on his cigarette about every minute. So, only if the smoker forgets will he have to relight. 



I believe this legislation can help reduce the damage to life and property due to smoking-related fires, and I urge my colleagues to join me in working to reduce this danger by supporting this legislation. 



A text of the bill and extraneous materials follow: 



						H.R. 5504

A bill to require persons who manufacture cigarettes or little cigars for sale or distribution in commerce to comply with processing standards prescribed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission which ensure that such cigarettes or little cigars will stop burning within a period of five minutes after being ignited if such cigarettes or little cigars are not smoked during such period, and for other purposes. 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 



SHORT TITLE 



SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the "Cigarette Safety Act". 



					STATEMENT OF POLICY 



Sec. 2. (a) The Congress finds that- 



(1) the United States Fire Administration has determined that cigarettes and careless use of smoking materials are the major causes of fire-related death and injury in residential occupancies in the United States; 



(2) fires caused by cigarettes and careless use or smoking materials in the United States annually- 



(A) kill approximately one thousand eight hundred people. 



(B) injure approximately four thousand people, and 



(C) result in property damage amounting to approximately $180,000,000; 



(3) laboratory experiments have shown that a cigarette will burn continuously for approximately twenty-four minutes when placed on a flat surface and that, with few exceptions, a cigarette must burn for at least five minutes before a fire wi11 resu1t; and 



(4) more than fifteen patents describe methods by which cigarettes may be made to be self-extinguishing. 



(b) The Congress declares it to be the policy of the Congress to reduce the loss of life and property in the United States by requiring that cigarettes and little cigars manufactured for sale or distribution in commerce be processed to ensure that such cigarettes or little cigars, if ignited, will stop burning within a period of five minutes after being ignited if such cigarettes or little cigars are not smoked during such period. 



					UNLAWFUL PRACTICES 



SEC. 3. (a) (1) The Consumer Product Safety Commission shall prescribe by regulation processing standards to ensure that any cigarette or litt1e cigar, if ignited, will stop burning within a period of five minutes after being ignited, if such cigarette or little cigar is not smoked during such period. No such processing standard shall cause the levels of tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide of any cigarette or little cigar to exceed 105 per centum of the levels of tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide which would have been the level of any such cigarette or little cigar had such cigarette or little cigar not been processed in accordance with such processing standard. 



	(2) Except as provided in section 4, it shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture any cigarette or little cigar for sale or distribution in commerce which is not processed in accordance with regulations prescribed under paragraph (1). 



	(b) Any person who violates subsection (a) (2) shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall on conviction thereof be subject to a fine of not more than $10,000. Each day during which any person vio1ates subsection (a) (2) shall be a separate violation. 



	(c) The district courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction, upon application by any person or the United States, to restrain any violation of subsection (a) (2) and to restrain the sale or distribution of any cigarette or little cigar manufactured in violation of this subsection. 



				CIGARETTES AND LITTLE CIGARS FOR EXPORT 

Sec. 4. The provisions of section 3 shall not apply with respect to cigarettes and little cigars manufactured- 



(l) for export from the United States. or 

(2) for delivery to a vessel or aircraft, as supplies, for consumption beyond the jurisdiction of the internal revenue laws, except with respect to cigarettes or little cigars manufactured for sale or distribution to members or units of the Armed Forces of the United States located outside of the United States. 



				ADMINISTRAT!ON OF ACT 



SEC 5. The Consumer Product Safety Commission may prescribe such regulations and take such other actions as may be necessary to carry out this Act. 



				DEFINITIONS 



SEC. 6. For purposes of this Act- 



(1) the terms "cigarette", "commerce", "United States", and "little cigar" shall have the meanings prescribed for them in paragraphs (1), (2), (3), and (7), respectively, of section 3 of the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act; and 



(2) the term "sale or distribution" includes distribution of samples or any other distribution not for sale. 



				EFFECTIVE DATE 



SEC. 6. This Act shall apply with respect to any cigarette or little cigar manufactured on or after January 1, 1981.