PIR cigarettes, an essential standard against fires

The dangers of tobacco are not limited to its health effects. Cigarettes are the cause of a large number of fires worldwide. It is estimated that 10% of the world's forest fires are caused by improperly extinguished cigarette butts, causing the destruction of nearly 40 million hectares each year.[1].

This link between cigarettes and forest fires is not new. In 1949, the largest fire in the history of France was attributed to tobacco, causing the death of 82 people and the destruction of 52,000 hectares in the Landes, half of which were forest areas.[2].

The human cost of these accidents is considerable. Between 2003 and 2008, 30,000 fires per year were started by cigarettes, causing an average of 1,000 deaths and 4,000 injuries.. From the community's point of view, the issue is also far from anecdotal. In a report by the World Health Organization[3] (WHO), in 2014 the damage from these fires alone was estimated at more than 27 billion dollars.

To address this problem, a manufacturing standard exists that allows the cigarette to extinguish itself when the consumer stops puffing on it. Called cigarettes with reduced ignition potential (PIR), these are equipped with “ ultra-thin concentric bands or slowing bumps, applied to cigarette paper to restrict the passage of oxygen to the tip of the cigarette »[4]. While this device does not reduce the health risks of smoking, it does allow to reduce the risk of fire by 30%.

The tobacco industry, which has mastered the technology of self-extinguishing cigarettes (PIR cigarettes) since the 1990s, strongly opposed the introduction of this standard and only began marketing it in the 2000s, when it was forced to do so by regulations. Today, this manufacturing standard is imposed in a growing number of countries: the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Iceland, Great Britain and the European Union. The guidelines of Article 9 of the FCTC[5] recommend adopting this standard[6]. Today, 80% of the world's population are still deprived of it.

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