NEW laws to cut the number of deaths caused by carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning should be in place by the end of the year, Government officials revealed last night.

More than four years after the Government first pledged to tackle deaths from CO poisoning, work has finally started to consult on urgently needed changes to the law.

In 1999, Lord Whitty, the then Health and Safety Minister, pledged to The Northern Echo that the law would be altered.

The pledge followed The Echo's Silent Killer campaign, which put pressure on ministers to cut the number of people killed by CO poisoning.

The campaign was backed by Margaret Brennan, whose 19-year-old daughter, Anne, died while at university digs in Durham City, and Sheila O'Neil, from Spennymoor, County Durham, who lost her daughter, Deborah, 23, to CO poisoning three weeks after she started teaching in Turkey.

The Silent Killer campaign was hailed as instrumental in prompting Government action, but ministers were slow to act.

In 2000, 47 safety regulations were recommended by the Health and Safety Commission with the aim of cutting CO deaths by 20 per cent within the next ten years.

But, much to campaigners' disgust, the proposals did not include the need to make it compulsary to fit CO alarms in all bedsits and new homes.

Now, more than three years after the recommendations were presented to the Government, officials have predicted the majority of them will become law by the end of the year.

Public consultation on the first raft of recommendations will begin in the spring.

Mark Wheeler, spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive, said several recommendations had already been dealt with, as the Government has revised its gas appliances leaflet to include advice on CO safety and was working with the medical profession to tackle misdiagnosis of CO poisoning.

Videos have been distributed to GPs and hospitals' A&E departments with information on diagnosing CO poisoning.

Leaflets for landlords have also been amended to include guidelines on CO safety.

Mr Wheeler said that once the consultation was completed, the proposals would then have to go through parliament before they became law.

He said: "There's a hell of a lot of work under way. In terms of getting all the recommendations completed, the main body will not happen until the legislation changes come into play and we can't anticipate how long that will be.

"And some recommendations are a bit difficult, such as reducing the number of CO deaths. That won't be looked at until 2010.

"What I can guarantee is that there will be a new consultation document this year."

Mrs Brennan said yesterday: "It's tremendous. The more safety regulations that will save young people's lives the better. But it's about time. It's eight years since my daughter died, so it's taken a while to get this far.