On February 10th there was a hearing
in New
York City before the Committee on
Fire & Criminal Justice Services in Regards
to Banning The Sale of Novelty
Lighters in the Big Apple. There is a bill pending in Congress to Ban them Nationwide.
The opposition to this product is shrouding the
facts that it is for “Child safety” Novelty lighters are CSPC
Approved, this means that they have gone thru the Federal Testing to ensure that a “Child” cannot light them,
whats more disturbing is that Not all Lighters have to be “Child Resistant”
Colibri, Zippo have absolutely NO Safety Device whatsoever but those items are apparently not a threat?? BIC has a metal band that is easily disabled, One of the main opposition parties to Novelty Lighters happens
to be the General Counsel for the Lighter Association whos members by the way include BIC, Calico, Cricket, Ronson and Zippo,
Funny that the Big Business’s own counsel
is leading the fight, Please help support the cause, You have rights too…..
DON’T BUY BIC, CALCO,CRICKET,RONSON & ZIPPO Lighters, They want the marketplace to themselves, Boycott their products,
Long Live Novelty Lighters. If you are interested in helping protect your rights
to own and operate a novelty lighter please fill out the form at the bottom of this page, Your comments will be recorded and
saved, Thanks for your support.
Sue
The following information was submitted to the committee
at the hearing, all the facts quoted have come from the US Fire Admin, NFPA, FEMA and CPSC
Stats from Children and Fire in The US 1994-1997(FEMA, United States Fire Administration) (“Children”)
state that of the fires that resulted in child deaths 94% were residential fires (p. 14).
Over one-third of all fires involving child injuries and deaths were the result of open flame (id. at 17). Matches as the form of ignition remained relatively constant over the four years. There was a consistent yearly decrease in injuries and in deaths related to lighters
over the four year period (from 22.2% in 1994 to 12.6% in 1997). (Id. at 17). This
is proof that the CPSC Doc 5021 instituted in 1994 which required child-resistant
mechanisms for lighters was working. (Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”
5021). The report also states that from 1993-1997 matches as the form of heat ignition in 58% of children playing fires were
still the most common form. (Children, p. 18).
An article titled “Study of the effectiveness of the US safety standard for child resistant cigarette lighters” by LE Smith,
MA Greene & HA Singh state that there was a 58% reduction in fires caused by children age 5 and younger in a report published
in 2002 due to the CPSC regulation.
According to Statistics for a ten-year period reported by the US Fire Administration
Residential Structure and Building Fires (October 2008), between 1996 thru 2005, the percent of fire deaths have gone
down by 18.1 percent (p. 15). The NFPA estimates reflect that 83 percent of fire deaths occur in residential structures (p.
13) . According to the 2005 report the
causes of residential fires were Cooking (40%), Open Flame (12%) (which includes candles, matches & careless cause),
Heating (13%), and Smoking (19%) Playing with a heat source (0.6%), (pp. 18-20).
In January 2009 an article “Children Playing With Fire”
written by Jennifer Flynn for NFPA states “that 2006 structure fires, deaths, and injuries are the lowest ever recorded.” (Exec. Summary, i). Why aren't Colbri, Ronson & Zippo required to have child resistant devices on their products? If you drop a lit Zippo lighter it continues to burn, a novelty lighter needs pressure
on theigniter to remain lit. Bic and Scriptos safety devices are easily removed
as well as easy to light. If a child could have the overall strength to depress
the igniter down on a novelty lighter they surely could easily light a Bic, Zippo or any other lighter as well. What about
matches? According to the US Fire Administrations report 58% of children playing
fires were started with them. This is a unfair attack on a product that has been in compliance with the CPSC. By banning novelty lighters this will have no effect on children playing fires, they will continue to use
matches, Bics and the rest that have no childproof mechanisms.
I fail to see why banning an item that is currently in compliance with the
law, while allowing other types that are available and which are easily disabled
or not in compliance at all to remain in the marketplace. It seems self defeating,
those items are much more a bigger threat. It seems more practical to make all lighters child resistant and to educate the
public and reinforce the need for fire safety.
Resources
Children Playing With Fire by Jennifer Flynn NFPA January 2009 - Executive Summary
US Fire Administration - Residential Structure & Building Fires Oct 2008 FEMA US Dept of HomelandSecurity
p.13,15,18-20
Children and Fire In The United States 1994-1997p14,17,19
Consumer Product Safety Commission -Child-Resistant Lighters Protect Young Children CPSC Document #5021 1994
Study of the
effectiveness of the US safety standard
for Child resistant cigarette lighters by LE Smith, MA Greene, HA Singh www.injuryprevention.com v192-196 2002