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Gas threat from the silent killer
MORE people have died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Waltham Forest than in any other London borough, according to the latest figures.
The so-called "silent killer", which leaks from faulty boilers and heaters, claimed the lives of ten local people between 2001 and 2006.
Some of the deaths may have been the result of suicide, but these are believed to be a small proportion of the 259 people killed by the gas in London during the same period.
No-one has been fatally poisoned while living in a council-owned property in the borough for almost 20 years and the local authority says it is working to ensure private landlords take steps to ensure tenant safety.
Carbon monoxide is an odourless, colourless and tasteless gas that causes similar symptoms to many common illnesses, such as headaches, sickness and tiredness.
A family of four, including two small children, narrowly escaped death when they were found unconscious at their home in Brookcroft Road, Walthamstow, in January 2001.
Days before a doctor diagnosed them with a virus even though carbon monoxide poisoning had been suggested.
Half of deaths in the borough in the last five years occurred in 2004. These included two separate double fatalities in the same property.
The bodies of Ahmed and Sara Bibi Moolla were found at their home in Boundary Road, Walthamstow, on January 16, 2004.
The couple, who had five children, were killed by poisonous gas that leaked from a faulty water heater.
In November of the same year, David Head and Graham Byford perished in a rented bedsit in Abbots Park Road, Leyton. A faulty water heater was blamed in that case too.
STEPHANIE Trotter, president of charity CO-Gas Safety, said: "There is no Government body which takes responsibility for carbon monoxide in general and this is appalling.
"There is no real help for the victims of carbon monoxide other than from us and we are mainly volunteers."
She also crriticised a recent Health and Safety Commission recommendation that the burden of safety should fall on a watchdog which must compete for the right to register gas installers and raise money from the industry.
"As we have sat on committees to talk with industry about funding for raising awareness since 1998 with no real results, we find this an extremely weak recommendation when a levy on the industry would provide the funds to stop these preventable deaths," she added
Sent: 12/05/2007 16:09:16
Email us direct at: repairs@londonheatingservices.co.uk
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