Kansas
Department of Health & Environment
Bill Graves, Governor
Clyde D. Graeber, Secretary
For Immediate Release
October 2, 2001
Contact: Jan Stegelman, 785-296-1223
The Kansas SAFE KIDS Coalition today called upon consumers and retailers in the State of Kansas to stop the sale and use of novelty cigarette lighters. The lighters look like popular toys and pose a danger to young children. Unfortunately, access to lighters is still a problem for Kansas kids. The Kansas State Fire Marshal's Office reports that 22 percent of the 2,968 fires set by juveniles in the last five years (1996-2000) were started with lighters.
The Coalition is asking parents and care givers to refrain from buying or using lighters which resemble miniature cell phones, cameras, insects and hand-held video games. The Kansas State Fire Marshal's Office has also received reports of lighters for sale which resemble small bowling pins, hand grenades, golf bags and traffic signals.
Retailers, especially independently owned convenience stores, are being asked by the Coalition to pull the lighters from their shelves. Walgreens and Osco Drug Stores throughout the state have already responded by discontinuing the sale of any novelty lighters that resemble toys.
"Fire and life safety professionals across our state have been teaching children for years that lighters and matches are tools not toys," said Jan Stegelman, Coordinator of the Kansas SAFE KIDS Coalition. "The sale or use of these novelty lighters contradicts this important message."
The Kansas SAFE KIDS Coalition, Inc. is a nonprofit group of 67 statewide organizations and businesses that have joined to protect Kansas children from unintentional injury -- the leading killer of Kansas kids. Local coalitions and chapters are located in Anderson, Barber, Clay, Ford, Johnson, Marion, Montgomery, Osage, Pottawatomie, and Shawnee Counties, as well as Hutchinson, Lawrence, Leavenworth, Manhattan, Norton, Salina, and Wichita. Kansas SAFE KIDS is part of the National SAFE KIDS Campaign.