 | "There's an enormous ignorance of carbon monoxide poisoning."
Professor John Henry | Cooking on gas but how safe are your appliances? |
Carbon Monoxide poisoning Inside Out investigates a domestic menace which is poisoning hundreds, even thousands of people in their own homes every year. It's called carbon monoxide - and it could happen to you in your home.
It comes from gas appliances which have been poorly fitted or haven't been properly serviced.
And some experts say many more people are in danger than is realised.
Hidden danger at home
Poisons expert Professor John Henry says that carbon monoxide poisoning is under diagnosed and under recognised. He believes that this is a real "iceberg phenomenon" and that many people are suffering with the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning without knowing about it.  | | Testing for carbon monoxide using a special detector |
If gas burns properly, it gives off carbon dioxide, otherwise known as CO2, which is not poisonous. If it doesn't burn properly, it gives off carbon monoxide otherwise known as CO, which is poisonous. Figures vary, but some claim that carbon monoxide kills up to 50 people every year. Dr Ben Croxford from University College, London has looked into this problem. He found that 8% of all homes have a risk of carbon monoxide exposure.
Some gas fires and cookers never get serviced or checked even in their entire lives, putting owners at risk. Real risks Professor John Henry is a clinical toxicologist and used to be a consultant at the National Poisons Unit. He says, "There's an enormous ignorance of CO poisoning. "In the short term it causes muzziness, headaches, tiredness, a 'Monday morning' feeling. "A doctor might say go home, you've got flu. That could be the worst advice you could have."
 | | Tip of the iceberg - Professor John Henry expresses fears |
In extreme cases people die through carbon monoxide poisoning. But what concerns people like Professor Henry is there may be many people - even thousands - who are being poisoned just a little bit at a time:
"A lot of people think CO can either leave you dead or doesn't affect you. But many people are in between. "Many people will put up with low level poisoning, headaches - this will lead to brain damage, memory loss, personality change."
Shocking results We took expert independent gas engineer Harry Rogers on a quest to hunt down bad boilers and killer cookers in Chatham, Kent. He inspected a street of houses with disturbing results. Of the first five houses tested, Harry found a carbon monoxide problem in four of them.
Harry found carbon monoxide coming from one cooker - not a lot, but enough to be worrying.
 | | Potentially lethal - a grill in the student house examined |
"It's potentially dangerous," says Harry. Harry also checked the appliances in a student house and found that the oven was emitting CO at such a high level, it was a serious risk to health. "There's the possibility of a fatality," says Harry. Student Kris Savonaventura is shocked, "I didn't realise it would be so high - the CO emissions. I'll talk to the landlord". Harry puts a warning sticker on the cooker and tells the students not to use it in any circumstances. We also took Harry to another road in Heathfield, East Sussex.
Once again he found worrying evidence of carbon monoxide coming from a cooker in a domestic house. Disastrous effect Siarl Davies was a successful musician until he moved into a flat with a badly maintained water heater. One night he fell asleep in his living room, the same room as the boiler.
He remembers what happened the following morning:  | | Siarl Davies - a life ruined by carbon monoxide poisoning |
"I came to in the morning, paralysed, and I couldn't see. It took seven hours to crawl across the room."
The boiler had been pumping out colourless, odourless carbon monoxide. Siarl got a new boiler, but the replacement was also faulty and he continued to breath a low level of CO for nine years. It has left him seriously injured.
Siarl now runs a campaign and support group called CO Survivors and he reckons it is only scratching the surface: "I think carbon monoxide poisoning is very widespread."
Future action...
CORGI is the body who set the standards for the installation of gas appliances. There is no law requiring them to test for carbon monoxide.
Harry says, "I think that's shameful".
 | | Golden glow or deadly appliance? Have you checked your CO? |
But CORGI say that if an appliance is installed and maintained properly by one of their engineers, then a test is quite simply unnecessary. Despite all the warnings, many people seem to be unaware of what carbon monoxide is - which is why Corgi has released warning films. But about half the population still has no information on carbon monoxide at all, according to Ben Croxford. Professor Henry agrees that, "There's an enormous ignorance of CO poisoning".
Clearly it's important to make sure that all your gas appliances are regularly serviced and checked. Otherwise you could become another victim of carbon monoxide poisoning. Links relating to this story:The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites | 
Inside Out - South East: Friday February 2, 2007
