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The case for fire safe cigarettes made through industry documents
  1. M Gunja1,
  2. G Ferris Wayne1,
  3. A Landman2,
  4. G Connolly1,
  5. A McGuire3
  1. 1Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  2. 2American Lung Association of Colorado, Glade Park, Colorado, USA
  3. 3Trauma Foundation, San Francisco, California, USA
  1. Correspondence to:
 Geoffrey Ferris Wayne, Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program, 250 Washington Street, 4th Floor, Boston MA 02108, USA;
 geoffmtcp{at}yahoo.com

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the extensive research undertaken by the tobacco industry over the past 25 years toward development of a fire safe cigarette.

Methods: Research was conducted through a web based search of internal tobacco industry documents made publicly available through the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement.

Results: The documents reveal that the tobacco industry produced a fire safe cigarette years ago, but failed to put it on the market. These findings contradict public industry claims that denied the technical feasibility and commercial acceptability of fire safe cigarettes. Internal documents also reveal a decades long, coordinated political strategy used to block proposed legislation and obfuscate the fire safe issue.

Conclusions: Federal legislation mandating fire safe cigarettes is needed.

  • fire safe cigarettes
  • industry documents
  • MBR, mass burn rate
  • PM, Philip Morris
  • RJR, RJ Reynolds
  • TAG, Technical Advisory Group
  • TSG, Technical Study Group

https://doi.org/10.1136/tc.11.4.346

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    Footnotes

    • ↵* The TSG comprised one member from: the National Bureau of Standards, American Medical Association, American Furniture Association, National Cancer Institute, National Fire Protection Association, Consumer Product Safety Commission, International Association of Fire Chiefs, American Burn Association/Trauma Foundation, Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Federal Trade Commission, and four members from the Tobacco Institute.