Safe cigarettes hoped to help accident-proof Alaska puffers

July 22, 2007

By Hannah Guillaume/Frontiersman

MAT-SU - Smokers in Alaska are now less likely to be burned.

Gov. Sarah Palin this past week signed into law fire-safe cigarette legislation, which requires retailers to only sell cigarettes designed to extinguish themselves when consumers stop puffing.

&#8220That's stupid, and I smoke,” said Larry Parker of Wasilla.

The thick bands of paper spaced intermittently on the &#8220safe” cigarette sounds ridiculous and he can't see it stopping forest fires or other cigarette-related accidents.

Tara Mellon, a public educator for the Central Mat-Su Fire Department, said it's difficult to root a fire's cause down to a cigarette butt. The department has responded to several fires known to have been caused by cigarettes being put out in potted plants.

&#8220We're hoping that it does good things,” she said of the safe cigarettes. &#8220It has been proven in New York state that it does well.”

New York signed similar legislation in 2000. Reports there show a 20 percent reduction in fire deaths. Palin is the 14th governor to sign similar legislation in 2007.

Amy Evans of Wasilla said she smokes only when she drinks and is glad to see the government stepping in to help reduce the number of cigarette-related deaths and accidents.

&#8220It's a bad, bad habit,” she said. &#8220I think it will be a great thing. I can't even smoke a whole cigarette, so that would be nice.”

Mahlon Greene, spokesman for Alaska's Fire Marshal office, said alcohol and drugs are also often associated with Alaska fire deaths. Over a span of 10 years, 23 percent of fire deaths were started from cigarettes. Fire-safe cigarettes contain no additional chemicals to the ones already existing in tobacco and prices won't noticeably increase.

Greene said extra bands of paper act like speed bumps and cause the cigarette to go out the same way a cigar not being smoked would.

Rep. Carl Gatto, R-Wasilla, worked to get the legislation passed.

Matt Gittlein, owner of the Valley Country Store, doesn't think a change in paper will stop smokers from buying the cigarettes his store carries.

&#8220I've heard from our R.J. Reynolds [tobacco company] rep that it would cut down on the types of cigarettes we'll have, which I will be happy to see, because there are lots of different kinds of cigarettes,” he said.

Less hard, soft packages and generic brands will make stocking shelves easier, Gittlein said.

Contact Hannah Guillaume at 352-2284 or hannahguillaume@yahoo.com.