Smoke Signals

I quit smoking in March of this year. I had smoked about two packs of cigarettes per day for the last 35 years. I'd had enough. Along with the related health problems, the costs of smoking were becoming too high. For a number of years now, states across this country have been trying to solve their budgetary problems on the lungs of smokers by trying to raise revenue through increased taxes on tobacco products. Here in Michigan, we have the fourth highest cigarette tax in America at $2, plus an additional federal tax of $1.01. At almost $6 per pack, taxes equal at least 50% of the cost of the product. Add it all up and those are costs I can live without, literally, thank you very much.

Smokers are an easy target. Who wants to align themselves with foul smelling, doorway clogging litterbugs who pollute our air and treat our world as their personal ashtray. Certainly not me, nor the do gooders of the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes brought to you by the National Fire Protection Association or NFPA. The NFPA's mission is to "reduce the worldwide burden of fire and other hazards on the quality of life by providing and advocating consensus codes and standards, research, training and education." Ok, first off, three questions: 1) Who's quality of life are you trying to protect?, 2) Could conservatives be another "hazard" you wish to eliminate?, and 3) Is fire really a burden? And, by the way, what the heck are the oxymoronically named fire-safe cigarettes (FSC's) anyway?

Glad you asked, because beginning on January 1, 2010, Michigan retailers will only be able to sell you fire-safe cigarettes whether or not you want to smoke them. And apparently, we are one of the last states to comply with the wishes of the National Fire Protection Association. New York smokers have been sucking these things down since 2004 (and you thought Governor Paterson, Chuck Schumer, and high taxes were the reason for the mass exodus of the Empire State). FSC's, or lower ignition cigarettes, will extinguish themselves if not inhaled on a frequent enough basis. Why do we need FSC's? Because according to the coalition and the U.S. Fire Administration, a division of the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA, almost 1000 people die every year in house fires caused by higher ignition or "unsafe" cigarettes. You got that right. Almost 500,000 people die every year from smoking related health problems, and yet the coalition wants to save one thousand of them from burning to death in their own homes.

Can you imagine the kinds of fire retardant chemicals necessary to make a cigarette fire-safe? Not to worry. According to a Harvard study, "there were no substantial differences in toxicity when key indicators were measured for fire-safe cigarettes and their conventional counterparts." Despite showing higher levels of poisonous compounds in FSC's, the study concluded that "there is no evidence that these increases affect the already highly toxic nature of cigarette smoke." In other words, why not put more shit into your shit sandwich?

With friends like the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes looking out for their safety, smokers have fewer enemies. And who are some of the people behind the coalition? Among the usual suspects like the AARP, the American College of Emergency Physicians, and the American Fire Sprinkler Association, there is the Boston Society of Vulcans. The Vulcans, no relation to the Dr. Spock variety, at least I don't think so, are a 501(c)3 non profit organization "focused on empowering people in need through education and support in the area of fire and public safety, prevention and employment into the fire service." Kind of like an ACORN for pyros.

Another partner in the coalition is the Center for Polyurethanes Industry. In their intro, they want us to know that they were formerly known as the Alliance for Polyurethanes Industry. So glad they cleared that one up for us. The scandal that prompted that name change must have been horrific. Anyhoo, the Center promotes the "sustainable growth of the polyurethane industry," and you can bet that the continued manufacture of FSC's will go a long ways towards that effort. In any event, in addition to the above mentioned entities that comprise the coalition, we can all take comfort in the fact that the Tobacco Free Kids are listed as a supporter.

Mind you that the same kind of progressive mentalities and government interventions of the cigarette safety coalition are the same ones which will produce and run Obamacare. Once again, your government is spending massive amounts of money on measures and initiatives that only marginally move the numbers. A near collapse of our economy just so a few American presidents could say they increased home ownership. Billions spent on incentivizing people to buy foreign cars when the American people owned GM and Chrysler. A healthcare program that could further ruin our economy just to insure another 12% of our population. None of this makes sense yet we invariably vote for more. Let's start to recover what we've lost in the process, common sense, come 2010.