CAMPAIGNERS yesterday condemned gas suppliers for refusing to spend one per cent of their profits on a TV advertising campaign to cut deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning.

A Westminster meeting heard that a levy would raise £19m - enough to fund twice-daily prime-time warnings on television for more than a month.

Yet the big six gas companies had repeatedly refused to fund the campaign, which was recommended by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in 2001.

The CO-Gas Safety group said: "One per cent of the profits from the six main gas supply companies is about £19m, and one prime-time airing of a warning film costs £25,000."

The meeting marked the start of Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week, held to highlight the deaths and serious injuries from poisionings by the deadly gas.

The Northern Echo launched its Silent Killer campaign following the death of Anne Brennan, a 19-year-old student from Houghton-le-Spring, Wearside, in digs in Durham City in 1995.

An inquest ruled she was unlawfully killed and her landlord was fined £10,000 for failing to ensure the boiler in the property was properly maintained.

But progress on cutting the number of carbon monoxide deaths has faltered, with 18 fatalities in the year to March 2005, compared with 11 in 2003-4.

There were also 214 injuries in 2004-5 - up from 171 the previous year - and 117 incidents, compared with 91 in 2003-4.

The HSE is expected to make a renewed call for a multi-million pound advertising campaign when it publishes a gas safety review early next year.

Addressing the meeting, Lord Hunt, the Health and Safety Minister, attacked the gas industry for not "bringing home to everyone that precautions need to be taken".

The minister added: "Gas can be very safe, but a lot more needs to be done to inform people of the dangers that are there."

Earlier this year, the all-party gas safety group of MPs opened up a new front by demanding the fitting of an audible carbon monoxide detector in every home.

One speaker told the meeting that the detectors - costing only £20 - would make an "ideal Christmas present".