A year on and this could still happen (From The Northern Echo)

A year on and this could still happen

8:20am Monday 21st April 2008 in

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THE family of a toddler who suffered horrific burns when his pyjamas caught fire have spoken of their dismay at a lack of progress in establishing an international law on flame-resistant children's clothing.

A year on from the launch of The Northern Echo's Protect our Children campaign, EU commissioners have yet to act to stop a repeat of the accident that befell Daniel Mitchard-Harrison.

His family fear the longer the process drags on, the greater the risk of another child suffering the same injuries.

Last night, a politician at the forefront of a campaign to introduce legislation said he was still battling to reach an agreement, but remains confident it will eventually be introduced.

Daniel was at home with his family in North Yorkshire when a spark from the living room fire landed on his pyjama bottoms.

Within seconds, he was engulfed in flames. The then-twoyear- old's burns were so severe that he will be scarred for life.

An anomaly in EU law bans the use of flammable material in the manufacture of girls' nightdresses - but there is no similar legislation for boys' pyjamas.

Following Daniel's accident last April, The Northern Echo and the Mitchard-Harrison family launched a campaign to have the law changed.

Thousands of people signed our online petition, which was then taken to the European Parliament, in Strasbourg.

The commissioner for consumers, Meglena Kuneva MEP, spoke encouragingly about the strength of the case and said the law "should be harmonised".

But on the first anniversary of Daniel's accident, the law remains the same as ministers continue to argue over the merits of introducing new legislation.

Daniel's mother, Liza Mitchard-Harrison, of Dalton, near Thirsk, said she was very disappointed that no action has been taken to ban the use of flammable material.

She said: "When the petition was handed in, we looked to be very close to getting the law changed, but I have not heard anything more about what's going on.

"I think people need to be aware of how quickly children's clothes can catch fire.

"If night dresses can be protected by law, why can't pyjamas?

"I always assumed that all children's clothes were safe.

"I feel really strongly about this and I would feel the same even if Daniel hadn't been burned."

Her sister, Sarah Mitchard, said: "Of course, this is very frustrating for all the family.

Even though they are going through the process, it is annoying that nothing has been done, and there's no sign that anything is being done about it.

"These pyjamas can go up in flames in a matter of seconds.

What is the difference between boys' nightwear and girls' nightwear?"

She added: "It's a real worry. We don't want this happening to someone else's child.

"The longer this goes on, the more the risk that something like this could happen again."

Following the accident, supermarket chain Asda said it was "horrified" about what had happened and pledged to act immediately.

A spokeswoman for George at Asda, where the pyjamas were bought, said: "Our technical team at George is going to look at creating a line of pyjamas with a higher man-made content, using more polyester."

But, after hearing concerns from customers about the possible long-term effects of chemicals in the material, the store decided it would not be making all of its children's pyjamas flameretardant.

Mrs Mitchard-Harrison, 28, said Daniel was showing signs of recovery, but will have to live with physical and psychological trauma for the rest of his life.

"The accident really knocked him back and he can be quite babyish sometimes," she said.

"He still has treatment on his legs to help reduce the scars.

"The skin shrinks as the scars heal, so he has had to have skin removed from behind his knee because it was beginning to tighten and affect his walking.

"He had full thickness burns across 15 per cent of his body - which means he had been burned beyond the nerves."

Daniel is due to start school in September.

"He has come on in leaps and bounds and is just like any other three-year-old, but he still wakes up in the night screaming and he talks about the accident.

"He remembers it all even though he was only two."