Self-Extinguishing Cigarettes

Life is Beautiful, Peter Max, 1971

poster issued by the American Cancer Society

Alright so undoubtedly I'm behind the times, but while watching a newstory about a housefire the other day, I learned that there is such thing as a self-extinguishing cigarette that puts itself if not actively puffed on. Hello- genius! Apparently falling asleep while smoking is the top cause of fire deaths in the US. But the reduced ignition propensity (RIP) cigarettes are only available in some states such as New York, where the RIP version of cigarettes are actually the only kind sold now. The Harvard School of Public Health did a study comparing physical properties of these cigarettes with normal ones and found that on average, only about 10% of them completed a full burn, compared to 99.8% of the normal ones. Also, the introduction of the new RIP cigarettes appeared to have no effect on sales over a six month period. So the question is- why aren't more states following suit with the mandated switch to the safer cigarette design? And if the industry isn't going to suffer a loss of sales, why aren't these products being made more widely available?!? And so what if sales are reduced- the tobacco industry knowingly sells a product that kills people!