The Consumer Product Safety Commission worked cooperatively with a regulated industry to develop a standard on child-resistant cigarette lighters that should prevent 80 to 105 fire deaths each year associated with children under age 5 playing with lighters. The estimated annual net benefits are nearly $400 million, consisting of reductions in deaths, injuries and property damage. This one standard saves society 10 times the annual budget of the CPSC.

Fire loss data for 1988 to 1990 show an estimated annual average of 5,600 residential structure fires, 150 deaths, and 1,l00 injuries that resulted from children under age 5 playing with lighters. The resulting risk of death was twice as high in fires involving lighter child-play as it was in residential structure fires generally.

The Commission began the process by granting a petition to require disposable lighters to be child-resistant and expanded the project to consider the risk from all lighters. CPSC staff worked on two fronts: (1) obtaining information needed to issue a mandatory regulation; and (2) working with a voluntary product standards group (ASTM) to develop a voluntary standard for disposable lighters.

CPSC worked cooperatively with industry to develop a test method that evaluates the ability of children under five years of age to operate disposable lighters. Manufacturers worked on new designs that could meet the requirements of the CPSC proposed test. The Canadian government also conducted verification testing. Several manufacturers provided new child-resistant designs, enabling the Commission to establish that the standard was technically feasible. During the development of the voluntary standard, several states including California, Connecticut, and New Jersey either passed or were considering legislation to require child-resistant lighters.

The Lighter Association Inc., representing most of the major manufacturers and importers of cigarette lighters sold in the U.S., asked the Commission to adopt the draft ASTM voluntary standard for child-resistant lighters as a mandatory standard. The industry wanted a mandatory standard because: (1) such a standard would preempt conflicting state-by-state regulation of lighters and (2) the industry wanted all manufacturers and importers to comply with the same child-resistant standard -- thus levering the playing field. In July 1993, the Commission published a final rule incorporating provisions of the ASTM draft requiring most lighters to be child-resistant. The rule went into effect in July 1994.

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