Protect Our Children
A year on and this could still happen
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| HORROR BURNS: The scarred legs of Daniel Mitchard-Harrison a year after he was burned |
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."
8:20am Monday 21st April 2008
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