'Fire safe' cigarettes plea to EU

Campaigners say the special cigarettes could save 1,300 lives

UK fire chiefs and safety groups are lobbying European officials to force tobacco firms to manufacture self-extinguishing cigarettes.

"Reduced ignition propensity" (RIP) cigarettes will mean fewer house fires and save hundreds of lives, they say.

The cigarettes, already on sale in the US and Canada, have a restricted oxygen supply to the burning end, and die out if left to smoulder.

The EU Health and Safety Directorate will discuss the proposal on Wednesday.

The RIP Coalition, which includes the Chief Fire Officers Association, the British Burn Association, public health organisations and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health, have joined forces to take on the tobacco firms.

Far too many people still die or are seriously injured every year in avoidable fires involving cigarettes London Fire Commissioner Sir Ken Knight

They are lobbying for a new European standard which would require companies to produce the RIP cigarettes.

Fire chiefs say discarded cigarettes are the main cause of fatal house fires.

Some 114 people died and 1,260 were injured in smoking-related fires in the UK in 2004.

London Fire Commissioner Sir Ken Knight said: "This standard has already been shown to work in the United States and Canada and could mean a big fall in the number of domestic fires if it was introduced in the UK and across the European Union.

"Far too many people still die or are seriously injured every year in avoidable fires involving cigarettes.

"As far as fire and rescue service is concerned, the sooner the new standard comes in the better."

'Saves lives'

Deborah Arnott, spokeswoman for the coalition and director of anti-smoking group Ash, said the proposed regulations could cut accidental fatal house fires by two thirds.

This would save up to 1,300 lives in Europe, she said.

And Dr Keith Judkins, chairman of the British Burn Association's prevention committee, said every year a "significant proportion" of the 250,000 NHS admissions for burns were a result of cigarette fires.

He said: "There aren't many causes of fire which could be significantly reduced simply by better design. It is surely right to do so whenever possible."