Intended for healthcare professionals

Minerva

Minerva

BMJ 1994; 309 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.309.6951.420 (Published 08 January 1994) Cite this as: BMJ 1994;309:420

Each year around 200 people die in fires in Britain caused by cigarettes, says the Association for Nonsmokers' Rights. It is now campaigning for cigarette manufacturers to be required to make their products fire safe. The research has been done: only small design changes are needed to make cigarettes which are safe when dropped on to bedclothes and furniture.

Prehospital care should become a fully fledged specialty, says a review in “Injury” (1994;25:347-8), supporting the report recently published by the BMA Board of Science and Education. The skills needed to provide treatment in the “cold, dark and wet environment” of the roadside are acquired through special training; unfortunately not all of those who offer their services have had the appropriate training.

Eighteen years after the European Bathing Water Directive was issued only 20 out of 457 beaches in Britain fly the EC blue flag. Six of the top resorts in Britain still discharge raw sewage into the sea (Remedy 1994;3:21-5). Surfers Against Sewage is compiling a register of cases of illness attributed to pollution of the sea, but surely much …

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