PHA-Exchange> Anti-smoking forces: Big tobacco is delaying on safer cigarettes - Newsday/AP

[Syed Mahbubul Alam]

Anti-smoking forces: Big tobacco is delaying on safer cigarettes - Newsday/AP
Wednesday, February 19, 2003
By ALICIA CHANG
Associated Press Writer

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Anti-smoking advocates accused giant tobacco companies 
Wednesday of delaying the implementation of a landmark New York law 
requiring cigarettes sold in the state to be wrapped in paper which has a 
reduced risk of igniting fires.

The law, considered the first of its kind in the nation, is designed to 
reduce the number of fires and deaths caused by careless smoking. It would 
force tobacco companies to shift to making cigarettes in paper that burns 
at a lower temperature than those currently used on the market.

The Fire Prevention Bureau in the state Department of State has been 
working to determine how the statute will be enforced. The 45-day period 
for public comment on the proposed regulations ended last week, but tobacco 
companies asked for a 60-day extension to submit their comments and questions.

"Delay equals death," Russ Haven of the New York Public Interest Research 
Group said. "The fact that they need more time is absolutely shameful."

The state granted the extension because it wanted to get comment addressing 
the science of the safer cigarettes, said Theresa Smolen, a spokeswoman for 
the Department of State.

 From 1997 to 2001, officials said about 200 people died in New York in 
fires caused by smoking materials, the most frequent cause of fatal blazes 
during that period. Typically, those fires are caused by people who fall 
asleep with lighted cigarettes in their hands, igniting bedding or upholstery.

The Pataki administration last month unveiled proposed regulations, 
mandated under a law enacted two years ago, that would require tobacco 
companies to have their cigarettes tested every three years for compliance 
with the law.

If the companies make changes in the style or composition of their 
cigarettes, they have to get them retested before marketing them in the 
state. Manufacturers who knowingly make false certification about their 
cigarettes' fire propensity may face a $10,000 fine.

R.J. Reynolds, which makes Winston, Camel and Salem cigarettes, had asked 
for more time to perform tests on the safer cigarettes and sought from the 
state the economic impact of the proposed regulations.

"We wanted to make sure there was adequate time, attention and thought 
given to this prior to its implementation," said spokeswoman Maura Payne.

Philip Morris has been developing a slower-burning paper on its Merit 
brand, called PaperSelect, and has said it would favor a national standard 
on safer cigarettes rather than a patchwork of state laws.

"We felt that having the benefit of extra days would help us offer the best 
possible comments in a way that would hopefully improve the standards that 
they were working on," said Brendan McCormick, a spokesman for Philip Morris.

Smolen said the state is on track in drafting final regulations. After the 
extended public comment period ends April 15, the state will review 
comments and make changes to its current regulations. The law will take 
effect 180 days after final regulations are approved.

NYPIRG, the Center for a Tobacco-Free New York and other groups fear the 
tobacco industry may delay the implementation through litigation or by 
trying to string out the regulation-making process in New York in hopes 
that Congress enacts weaker standards that pre-empt the state law.

Some tobacco companies are predicting compliance would be difficult because 
they would have to manufacture and distribute the technology on all their 
cigarette brands in six months after the guidelines are set.

"It's going to be a significant challenge for us to comply even in 
best-case scenario with whatever regulations are implemented because of the 
short time frame," McCormick said.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--safercigarettes0219feb19,0,3822002.story 


=============================
Stan Shatenstein

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