GAS suppliers are declining to fund a multi-million pound TV advertising campaign to cut deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning, The Northern Echo can reveal.

The firms will reject a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) study that concluded up to £25m must be spent to achieve a target of a 20 per cent reduction in deaths by 2010.

Instead, they will propose a slimmed-down strategy centred on leaflets in doctors' surgeries and advice on websites to persuade people to replace ageing equipment.

No figure is available yet for the cost of the initiative, to be agreed by the Energy Retail Association (ERA), the trade body for gas suppliers, at a meeting this month.

But it is likely to be far cheaper than the £25m estimate, leading to renewed calls for suppliers to face a compulsory levy to force them to tackle carbon monoxide deaths.

That proposal was made by health and safety chiefs in 2001, but time has run out for legislation to be introduced before the next election, probably next spring.

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 student accomodation in Durham in 1995.

Some new laws are expected next year, including compulsory gas safety declarations after servicing, better testing to identify dangerous fumes and the extension of regulations to cover non-domestic premises.

An HSE working group of gas-fitters, local authorities, landlords and safety groups also recommended the advertising campaign to make people aware of the threat.

However, Russell Hamblin-Boone, ERA's head of communications, said better awareness and equipment were already reaping rewards.

The number of deaths had fallen from 31 at the start of the decade to 12 in 2002/03, he said, although the industry's target was zero.

Mr Hamblin-Boone said: "We do not believe that is something that will be achieved through a large amount of money being spent on adverts."

Mr Hamblin-Boone said advice could be given when gas suppliers visited homes, on websites and with leaflets at surgeries and benefit offices.

Read more about the Silent Killer campaign here.