Flat Screen TVs "cost the Earth"

New international rules are needed to ensure that the use of flat screen televisions does not lead to massive environmental damage, says North West Euro-MP Chris Davies.

The problem lies with the manufacturing process which makes use of nitrogen trifluoride, a gas that has a global warming effect 17000 times greater than carbon dioxide. Currently its release into the atmosphere is neither regulated nor monitored.

North West MEP Davies has called on the European Commission to press for controls on its use to be included in international agreements to fight climate change.

The Liberal Democrat MEP said: “Every tonne of this gas that gets released into the atmosphere has the same effect as 8,500 return flights from the UK to Tokyo.

"We need to ensure that TV sets get out of the factories but not the gas used to make them."