- Fire-Safe Cigarette Research Guide
- » Introduction
- » Background Information
- » SMART Catalog Search Terms
- » Primary Sources- Moakley Papers (MS 100)
- » Primary Sources- Digitized Materials from the Moakley Papers
- » Primary Sources- Oral History Interview
- » Primary Sources- Other Archival Collections
- » Secondary Sources- Suffolk University Archives Reference Files
- » Secondary Sources- Books
- » Secondary Sources- Government Documents
- » Secondary Sources- Journal Articles
- » Secondary Sources- Web resources
- » Legislative History
Introduction
The Moakley Archive and Institute at Suffolk University has many resources that explore Congressman Moakley’s twenty-year effort to create a national standard for the production of fire-safe cigarettes. Moakley’s interest in the issue stemmed from a fatal, cigarette-caused fire in his district in 1979 that killed a family in Westwood, Mass. In an effort to prevent similar tragedies, Moakley began a legislative campaign to tighten regulations on the tobacco industry and to require the production of self-extinguishing cigarettes.
Fire-safe cigarette (FSC) related documents in Congressman Moakley’s papers (MS 100) can serve as a case study to understand the process by which laws are created, put before Congress and ratified (or not); an illustration of bipartisanship, and to examine the influence of lobbyists on Congress.
A .pdf version of the guide is available here.
back to top^Background Information
Cigarette-caused fires and deaths were in the national spotlight prior to Joe Moakley’s involvement; his involvement began after a Westwood (Massachusetts) family of seven, five children and two parents were killed in May 1979 in a house fire ignited by a discarded cigarette. When word reached Moakley that a self-extinguishing cigarette could have prevented this tragedy, he began investigating why such a cigarette was not available. Throughout his time in Congress, Moakley worked tirelessly to introduce and pass FSC legislation; his endeavors in the House of Representatives were mirrored in the Senate by Alan Cranston (D-CA, 1969-1993) and John Heinz (R-PA, 1977-1991).
In October 1979 Moakley introduced his first cigarette related legislation, the “Cigarette Safety Act (CSA) which called for “the creation of a fire safety standard for cigarettes that would be less likely to ignite upholstered furniture and mattresses.” The Technical Study Group (TGS) was created after a revised CSA passed in 1984; this group explored whether or not it was possible to produce a safer cigarette that was also commercially viable. By 1987 TGS research proved that a fire-safe cigarette could be achieved if manufactured with the following elements: a filter tip, less porous citrate-free paper, expanded tobacco and a smaller diameter. Legislation passed in 1990 gave the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) three years to create a successful testing mechanism for fire-safe cigarettes. The next bill, introduced in March 1999, H.R. 1130, gave the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) eighteen months to develop a safety standard for cigarettes. More importantly it required cigarette manufacturers conform to those standards in one year. Congressman Moakley’s tenure in the House ended in 2001; thus H.R. 1130 became the last piece of FSC legislation he submitted. After Joe Moakley passed away in 2001 Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) assumed his role in the fight for FSC legislation. Markey honored Moakley’s efforts and achievements, when he named H.R. 4607 the “John Joseph Moakley Memorial Fire-Safe Cigarette Act of 2002.”
Over time, lobbyists have played a crucial role on both sides of the fire-safe cigarette (FSC) debate. Pro-FSC groups have included firefighter and fire prevention organizations, consumer health and public policy groups, burn victims and furniture manufacturers. The main opponent against tighter regulation has been the tobacco industry. Due largely in part to the tobacco lobby, a national law requiring FSC has yet to be achieved. Therefore, a unique aspect of this issue is that FSC laws have only been enacted at the state level. Effective July 2011 all 50 states have passed law requiring all cigarettes be self-extinguishing.
back to top^SMART Catalog Search Terms
Use a combination of the following search terms in Suffolk’s online catalog (SMART) to find relevant folders in the Moakley Papers:
cigarette*, cig*, fire safe, tobacco, tobac*, smok*, health, Morris, Reynolds, nicot*, Cranston, IAFF, fire, firefighter, IAFC, NFPA, CPSC
back to top^Primary Sources- Moakley Papers (MS 100)
Legislative Correspondence, 1974-2001, n.d. (MS100/02.02)
• Folders: 0241, 0610, 0634, 0685, 0770, 1057, 1209, 1215, 1345, 1346, 1347, 1380, 1540, 1622, 1675, 1789
Legislative Assistant Files: Carlton Currens, 1968-1989 (MS100/03.01)
• Folders: 25, 41, 42
Legislative Assistant Files: Ellen Harrington, 1963-2001(MS100/03.03)
• Folders: 199, 203, 241-542
Legislative Assistant Files: Sophie (Wattles) Hayford, 1977-1993 (MS100/03.05)
• Folder: 31
District Issues, 1972-2001(MS100/04)
• Folders: 145-147
Press Releases, 1972-2001(MS100/07.03)
• Folders: 98, 405, 413, 414, 479, 508, 509, 555, 557, 588, 593, 596, 610
Congressional Speeches, 1970s-2001 (MS100/08.01)
• Folders: 279, 342
Non-Congressional Speeches, 1970s-2001(MS100/08.02)
• Folders: 239, 522
Audio Recordings, 1970s-2001, n.d. (MS100/09.01)
• Item: 41
Video Recordings, 1972-2001, n.d. (MS100/09.02)
• Items: 42, 48, 60-62, 123, 175, 178, 180
Memorabilia, 1952-2007, n.d. (MS100/09.03)
• Item: 32
Congressional Photographs, 1973-2001(MS100/10.02)
• Folders: 45, 70, 72
Primary Sources- Digitized Materials from the Moakley Papers
- MS100/03.03-244: Fire-safe cigarettes: Westwood Fire, Boston Globe, 6/5/1979, DI-0654
- MS100/03.03-324: Fire-safe cigarettes: Member’s Folder: Hearing on H.R. 1880 (Folder 1 of 2), 3/21/1983, DI-0653
- MS100/03.03-370: Fire-safe cigarettes: “Fire Safe Cigarette legislation signed by President,” news release, 10/30/1984, DI-0655
- MS100/10.02-070: Photograph- Fire-safe Cigarette hearing, 1983, DI-0318, DI-0319
Primary Sources- Oral History Interview
Available at the Moakley Oral History Blog http://oralhistory.blogs.suffolk.edu/
- Oral History Interview of Joe Moakley, 2001
- Oral History Interview of Peter King, 2004
Primary Sources- Other Archival Collections
Alan MacGregor Cranston papers, 1914-1993. Bancroft Library. University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.
Congressional papers of H. John Heinz III of Pennsylvania, 1963-1991. Carnegie Mellon University. Pittsburgh, PA.
- http://diva.library.cmu.edu/HELIOS/
- https://libwebspace.library.cmu.edu:4430/libraries-and-collections/Archives/Heinz/
Tobacco Documents Online: http://tobaccodocuments.org
Secondary Sources- Suffolk University Archives Reference Files
• Folders: 315-327, 558 back to top^Secondary Sources- Books
• Bregmen, Randi, Beverly Desoto, New York (State). Legislature. Assembly. Standing Committee on Housing Subcommittee on Code. Enforcement and Rent Administration. Up in smoke: the case for a fire-safe cigarette. Albany (NY): The Assembly, 1982.
• Brigham, Peter, Andrew McGuire. Progress towards a fire-safe cigarette. Emmetsburg, MD: National Emergency Training Center, 1995.
• Brigham, Peter, Mark Cohen, John Douglass, Maury Galbraith, Diane Lestina, Ted Miller, Valerie Nelkin, et al. Societal costs of cigarette fires. Landover, MD: National Public Services Research Institute, 1993.
• Citizens Committee for Fire Protection. Fire-safe cigarettes. Washington, DC: Citizens Committee for Fire Protection, 1983.
• Connolly, Gregory, H.R. Alpert, V. Rees, C. Carpenter, G.F. Wayne, D. Vallone, H. Koh. Effect of the New York State cigarette fire safety standard on ignition propensity, smoke constituents, and the consumer market. Emmetsburg, MD: National Emergency Training Center, 2005.
• DeFrancesco, Susan, Andrew McGuire. The fire-safe cigarette campaign. Emmetsburg, MD: National Emergency Training Center, 1985.
• Eisenhower, Donna, Rita Fahy, Peter Forbes, John Hall, Beatrice Harwood, Michael Karter, Terry Kissinger, Alison Miller. Cigarette fire incident study. Washington, DC: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., 1993.
• Hall, John Raymond, NFPA Fire Analysis and Research Division. The smoking-material fire problem. Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection Association, 2010.
• Hultkrantz, Bob, McKinney Fire Dept. Cigarettes: the Corvair of the fire service. Emmetsburg, MD: National Fire Academy, 1994.
• Jackson, D. Lowell. History of the development of a test method for the measurement of the propensity of cigarettes to cause smoldering ignition of soft furnishings 1981-1993. Emmetsburg, MD: National Fire Academy, 1994.
• Ohlemiller, T.J., National Institute of Standards and Technology, Building and Fire Research Laboratory. Test methods for quantifying the propensity of cigarettes to ignite soft furnishings. Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and Technology, 1993.
• Rose, Veronica. Fire-safe cigarettes. Hartford, CT: General Assembly, Office of Legislative Research, 2007.
• ___. Fire-safe cigarette ingredients. Hartford, CT: General Assembly, Office of Legislative Research, 2007.
• Sullivan, Michael. Statistics: informed decisions using data. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall/Pearson Education, 2004
back to top^Secondary Sources- Government Documents
• United States. Fire Safe Cigarette Act of 1990. Washington, DC: GPO, 1990
• United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Competitiveness. Fire safe cigarettes: hearing before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Competitiveness of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives. 101st Cong., 2nd sess., May 16, 1990.
• United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Competitiveness. Fire safe cigarettes: hearing before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Competitiveness of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. 103rd Cong., 2nd sess., April 20, 1994
• United States. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Compilation of statutes administered by CPSC. Washington, DC: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 1991.
back to top^Secondary Sources- Journal Articles
• Alpert, Hillel, Gregory Connolly, Richard O'Connor, Ron Spalletta. “Recent advances in cigarette ignition propensity research and development.” Fire Technology 46 (2010): 275-289.
• Barbeau, E., Graham Kelder, S. Ahmed, V. Manteufel, and E. Balbach, "From Strange Bedfellows to Natural Allies: The Shifting Allegiance of Fire Service Organizations in the Push for Federal Fire-Safe Cigarette Legislation," Tobacco Control: An International Journal, 14 (2005): 338-345.
• Barillo, David J. “The fire-safe cigarette: a burn prevention tool.” Journal of Burn Care & Rehabilitation 21 (2000): 164-170.
• Bruno, Hal. “Developing a fire-safe cigarette.” Firehouse 9 (1984): 8.
• Comoletti, Judith. “There's no time like now: sign the on-line petition to support fire-safe cigarettes.” NFPA Journal 100 (2006): 38.
• Dahm, Robert. “Fire standard compliant cigarette program update.” Minnesota Fire Chief 47 (2010): 43+.
• Durso, Fred. “Mission accomplished: Andrew McGuire, "the father of fire-safe cigarettes," talks about the wrap-up of the highly successful NFPA campaign -- and about taking the fight to Europe and China.” NFPA Journal 104 (2010): 17-20.
• “Feds not enacting 'fire-safe' cigarette legislation, so states beginning to step up to the task.” Fire Findings 15 (2007): 2-3.
• “Fire safe cigarettes addressed before sub-committee.” Voice 19 (1990): 6.
• “Fire-safe cigarettes could cut fire death toll, claims group.” Fire Prevention (1994): 6.
• “Fire-safe cigarette legislation gets additional endorsements.” Link 10 (1989): 3.
• Gunja, M., G. Wayne, A. Landman, Gregory Connolly. “The case for fire safe cigarettes made through industry documents.” Tobacco Control (2002): 346-353.
• Hunt, John L. “Back to the future: the ABA and burn prevention.” Journal of Burn Care & Rehabilitation 21 (2000): 474-483.
• Greear, Linda, William Hudson, Richard Jupe, Donald Shipley, Joseph Wanna. “Inter-bolt variability of cotton duck no. 4 and the effects on cigarette ignition propensity test outcome.” Journal of Fire Sciences 13 (1995): 127-140.
• Markey, Edward. “Slow burn: fire-safe cigarettes.” NFPA Journal 96 (2002): 42-45.
• “More fire-safe cigarette feasible.” Fire Command 54 (1987): 13.
• National Bureau of Standards. “NBS identifies changes in cigarettes to be more fire-safe.” Fire Technology 24 (1988): 68-69.
• “NBS identifies changes in cigarettes to be more fire-safe.” Fire and Arson Investigator 42 (1991): 19.
• Nicholson, John. “Canada mandates fire-safe cigarettes.” NFPA Journal 98 (2004): 40.
• ¬¬¬___. “The genesis of a coalition: NFPA and fire-safe cigarettes.” NFPA Journal 100 (2006): 62-64.
• Schuh, Daniel, Jack Sanderson. “Fire-safe cigarettes: are they really less likely to ignite other combustibles?” Fire Findings 18 (2010): 1-3.
• Shannon, James. “Fire-safe cigarettes: the time has come.” NFPA Journal 99 (2005): 6.
• ___. “New coalition and a call to action.” NFPA Journal 100 (2006): 6.
• ___. “Fire-safe cigarettes: keep fighting.” NFPA Journal 103 (2009): 6.
• “Support for Federal 'fire-safe' cigarette legislation growing.” Link 9 (1988): 2.
• Thomas, Jan. “Fire-safe cigarette act introduced.” Fire Chief 31 (1987): 18.
• ___. “NBS says fire-safe cigarette is possible.” Fire Chief 31 (1987): 18.
• “US coalition's call to action on fire-safe cigarettes.” Fire 98 (2006): 19.
back to top^Secondary Sources- Web resources
• Citizens for Fire Safety: http://www.cffsi.org
• The Coalition for Fire Safe Cigarettes: http://www.firesafecigarettes.org
• Consumer Product Safety Commission: http://www.cpsc.gov
• Legacy Tobacco Documents Library: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/
• National Fire Protection Association: www.nfpa.org
• Tobacco Documents Online: http://tobaccodocuments.org
• The Tobacco Institute: http://www.tobaccoinstitute.com/
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