Illinois could become the fourth U.S. state to require that only "fire-safe" cigarettes be sold to residents, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Feb. 27.

State Sen. William Haine (D-Alton) is sponsoring a bill that closely follows laws passed in New York, Vermont and California; those laws require cigarettes to include bands in their paper that help extinguish the tobacco if not puffed for more than a minute.

In New York, fatalities in fires caused by cigarettes declined by almost one-third after the law was implemented.

The Illinois bill recently passed the Senate's Executive Committee on a 7-5 vote. 

Up to 900 Americans die each year in fires caused by cigarettes. "This [legislation] would be cutting down on that tremendously," said fire-safety lobbyist Margaret Vaughn.

But David Howard, a spokesperson for R.J. Reynolds, said the fire-safe cigarettes are more expensive to make, and added that cigarettes should not have to be remanufactured because some smokers are careless. "Telling smokers that this is 'fire safe' will install a false sense of security," Howard said. "They could still start fires."