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County Council, and also purchased from the Central Council for Health
Education, and was distributed as widely as possible throughout
Westminster.
The amount available for health education in Westminster is small
when compared to the many thousands of pounds spent by cigarette
manufacturers in the West End advertising their products. It is hoped,
however, that the Department's activities brought home to some of the
young people in Westminster the dangers to health of smoking,
particularly of cigarettes.
Oil Heaters Regulations, 1962
On 10th May, 1962, the Home Office issued Circular No. 76/62 calling
attention to these Regulations, made under Section 1 of the Consumer
Protection Act, 1961.
The Regulations, which came into force on 1st June, 1962, provide
that, subject to certain exceptions, no person may sell or let on hire or
hire purchase an oil heater or a component part of an oil heater not
complying with certain requirements designed to prevent or reduce risk
of death or personal injury, in relation to domestic space heaters which
burn paraffin oil and are not designed for use with a flue.
The British Standards Institute has also issued a Standard Specification
(No. 3300) to which all new oil heaters offered for sale should conform.
As a routine measure, all public health inspectors going round their
districts in Westminster look out for any oil heaters which are offered
for sale and which do not comply with the Regulations or the above
Standard. Particular attention is paid to secondhand shops and stalls
where old oil heaters may be found. So far, no oil heater which does not
comply with these requirements has been found offered for sale.
In any doubtful case the Council is empowered to purchase a sample
heater for testing, but the necessary tests can only be satisfactorily
carried out by the British Standards Institute. The fee for such an
examination may amount to as much as £35 to which must be added the
cost of purchasing the heater or its component parts (say, £15). Although
it is understood that the heater may sometimes be useable after testing,
and may therefore have some secondhand value, an expenditure of up to
£50 would, therefore, be incurred in respect of each oil heater submitted
to the Institute for examination.
During the winter of 1963, copies of a special leaflet, "How Safe is
your Oil Heater," were obtained from the London County Council and
distributed by the local division of the British Red Cross Society to all
old people receiving meals under the Westminster Meals on Wheels
Service.