Surgeon backs fire-risk crusade (From The Northern Echo)

Surgeon backs fire-risk crusade

9:28am Monday 25th June 2007 in

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AN eminent plastic surgeon has lent his support to The Northern Echo's campaign for an international law on the flammability of children's nightwear.

Bruce Philp, consultant plastic surgeon at the St Andrew's Centre for burns and plastic surgery in Chelmsford, Essex, has voiced his concerns that there are no legal requirements for children's pyjamas to be flame-retardant.

A loophole in European law means that although nightdresses and dressing gowns have to be flame- retardant, pyjamas do not.

However, after two-year-old Daniel Mitchard-Harrison, from Thirsk, North Yorkshire, suffered severe burns to his legs when his pyjamas caught alight, The Northern Echo launched the Protect Our Children campaign to amend the law.

Last week, the newspaper presented a 2,500-name petition to the European Petitions Committee.

The European Committee for Standardisation - the EU equivalent of the British Kite Mark - has recently published a European Standard for children's nightwear setting out minimum requirements that would stop children's pyjamas going up in flames in only a few seconds.

To create a new European law, there would need to be agreement from the European Commission, EU member countries and the European Parliament.

Mr Philp has given the campaign his support along with Colchester MP Bob Russell who signed an early day motion lodged by Phil Willis, the MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough.

Mr Philp said: "I support anything that stops people getting burnt. We have people with burns from clothes catching fire every week, and a couple of really big cases each year involving children.

"We are talking significant injuries with both legs burnt."

He added: "It's terrible that whenever you look at labels you see, 'keep away from fire', on all children's clothing.

"You don't realise what that label means practically.

"People expect children's clothes to be flame-retardant, but they are not."

Daniel is recovering from his injuries but will need further operations in the future.