EU Calls for Self-Extinguishing Cigarettes

The European Commissions is expected to propose before the end of this year that all cigarettes sold across the EU should be self-extinguishing to help prevent smoke-related domestic fires that kill around 2,000 Europeans each year.

The commission is set to ban traditional cigarettes by 2009-10, according to UK daily the Guardian, forcing smokers to only use "fire-safe" cigarettes. These will stop burning automatically if they are not regularly puffed on with small gaps in the cigarette paper cutting the circulation of oxygen.

Numbers received from most of the EU member states show that about 2,000 people across Europe are killed every year in house fires caused by cigarettes and a further 7,500 injured.