Accomplishments
Fire Safe Cigarettes
The Trauma Foundation's campaign to regulate the fire safety of cigarettes began in 1979. Five years later, the Trauma Foundation was instrumental in the passage of the Cigarette Safety Act (P.L 98-567 in 1984). The Act mandated the formation of a Technical Study Group (TSG) to find out whether it was feasible to make a fire safe cigarette--a cigarette that is significantly less likely to ignite furniture and mattresses. In 1987, the TSG delivered their findings to the U.S. Congress: a fire safe cigarette was technically and economically feasible. On August 10, 1990, the Fire Safe Cigarette Act (P.L 101-352), which mandated the development of a national fire safe cigarette test method, was signed by then-President Bush. Andrew McGuire served on the Technical Advisory Group (created in 1990) which, along with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, provided Congress with a fire safety test method for cigarettes.
Here's Looking At You, Kid
In 1982, the Trauma Foundation earned an Emmy award for a PBS/NOVA documentary on burns, produced by Andrew McGuire, entitled "Here's Looking At You, Kid." The film documents the rehabilitation of a seven-year-old boy who sustained a burn injury over seventy-five percent of his body.
Seat Belt Law
The Trauma Foundation organized a statewide coalition of physicians, nurses, public health workers, and community advocates who educated policy makers regarding the efficacy of a mandatory seat belt use law in California in 1986.
Motorcycle Helmet Law
Beginning in 1987, the Trauma Foundation worked with people whose lives had been significantly altered by motorcycle crashes to advocate for a motorcycle helmet law. Since the law went into effect in 1992, it has been credited with saving approximately one hundred lives annually and reducing serious head injuries by forty-nine percent.
Assault Weapons Ban
The Trauma Foundation organized a coalition of health care workers, policy makers, and community activists who advocated for the assault weapons ban in California in 1989.
Alcohol Tax Initiative
In 1990, Andrew McGuire chaired the statewide committee that ran the Alcohol Tax Initiative in California. Although the nickel-a-drink tax failed at the November ballot, the State legislature increased the alcohol tax six months later as a direct result of the November initiative.
Alcohol Advertising Standards
The Trauma Foundation worked with the wine and distilled spirits industries to amend their advertising standards so that the use of advertising images which demean women or condone violence against women would no longer be permitted.
Health Care for Battered Women
The Trauma Foundation collaborates in the implementation of the Family Violence Prevention Fund's National Health Initiative, designed to improve health care providers' sensitivity to, and treatment of, battered women.
August 15, 1996
Trauma Foundation
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