A longtime smoker in northeast China's Jilin Province has worked out a flameproof cigarette by isolating the tobacco from the filter tip with a thin layer of tinfoil.

Song Yuanming, 58, brought his patented invention to the provincial government after he heard a dropped cigarette butt had caused the deadly fire that killed 54 and injured 70 in Jilin City on Feb. 15.

He said he hoped the government would call on tobacco makers to use his technology and produce flameproof cigarettes to prevent fires.

Song's invention became patented more than two years ago, and he has been seeking tobacco makers for cooperation ever since.

One tobacco maker in the provincial capital Changchun refused to use Song's technology because the firelight isolation device would increase their cost by two cents per packet, he said.

"I wrote to some tobacco makers in other provinces, too, but did not hear from any one of them," he said.

Song said he would not give up. "I'll keep trying and I'm confident flameproof cigarettes will have great potential in the market. After all, they will benefit the smokers as well as many others in the long run."

Song, who has been smoking for over three decades, said he himself had burned bed sheets, quilts and clothes with carelessly dropped cigarette butts at home. "Several times I almost set our house on fire," he added.

Drawing lessons from his own experience, Wang started to work on flameproof cigarettes in the early 1990s with his sun Song Tianyu.

Their invention was patented in September 2001.

"The theory is very simple: the firelight goes out automatically at the tinfoil layer for lack of oxygen, so the butt will not cause fire at all," said Song, adding the tinfoil cap had to be airtight to extinguish fire.

Fire control officials here say cigarette butts and careless use of other ignitable materials are two major fire setters in China and are causing innumerable number of disasters each year.

(Xinhua News Agency February 28, 2004)