MICHAEL CONNARTY MP SUPPORTS CARBON MONOXIDE AWARENESS WEEK

Local MP Michael Connarty is lending his support to this yearâ€™s Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week, which is being launched by CO-Awareness at the House of Lords on Monday 17th November 2008.

Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning, usually the result of poorly maintained boilers or other domestic appliances, is thought to kill 50 people in Britain every year and death rates are rising.

Michael said “Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week is intended to draw the dangers of Carbon Monoxide poisoning to the public’s attention,” I urge all my constituents to take precautions to protect themselves and their families, by making sure that their domestic appliances are maintained and carbon monoxide alarms are fitted in their homes.”

CO-Awareness is a not-for-profit organisation that is working to raise awareness of the dangers of CO. They will be calling on the Government, to help get those poisoned by the products of combustion better medical help and support.

Michael said, “Carbon Monoxide is just one of the products of combustion that victims have been exposed to. It is the most common poison in the UK today. There is no large scale public information campaign about it and it is not routinely tested for at post mortems. As well as raising public awareness, we need to make sure all doctors, especially those in emergency departments and GPs, are aware of the symptoms that Carbon Monoxide can cause. It should not take a tragedy to alert the British public to its dangers. Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week therefore seeks to address all these issues. We must no longer stay silent about this silent killer.”

Lynn Griffiths, President of the CO-Awareness and founder of the CO-Awareness Week, whose own children were all poisoned by the “products of combustion” said, “CO-Awareness have become increasingly concerned at the growing number of victims who are going on to develop similar illnesses which we are told are not linked to carbon monoxide poisoning. The only thing our victims have in common is they were all poisoned by the "products of combustion" from faulty appliances. We suspect that it's these chemicals that are responsible for the long term health issues that so many victims are suffering from. Many metals found in the "products of combustion" are catalyst’s a small amount of them can create a big change in the levels between other chemicals. We believe that it’s these chemicals that have contributed to our victim’s ongoing health problems and we are calling on Government to research this possible link to other chemicals”.

More information is available at the campaign’s website www.co-awareness.org