ANTI-drugs campaigners yesterday welcomed Government plans to ban the sale of lighter refills to under-18s to cut the death toll from butane gas abuse.

At least one youngster in the UK dies every week from sniffing gas, aerosols and glue, with substance abuse accounting for one in 50 of all deaths in the 15 to 19 age group. In 1997, 73 youths died from volatile substance abuse, five of them in Scotland.

While the figures have dropped dramatically from a peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when hundreds of young lives were claimed by aerosols and glue, health campaigners have called for more action to prevent further tragedies.

Calls have been particularly strong in Scotland, where it is claimed greater poverty and a larger number of rural communities have resulted in a disproportionate number of deaths.

Yesterday the Government indicated they had heeded the warnings as they outlawed the sale of butane gas lighter refills to under-18s from October 1.

Announcing the change in legislation, Home Office Minister George Howarth said: ''Gas lighter refills are deadly. I cannot overstate how lethal they can be to a young person abusing them.''

Emphasising the need to hammer home the message, he added: ''By making it an offence to sell the refills to youngsters, I hope that all retailers will sit up, take notice and play their part in ensuring that children do not die because of this horrible activity.''

The ban, which comes after consultation with manufacturers and retailers last year, has the backing of the solvents industry.

Hailing the new law as a victory, Mr Warren Hawksley, director of the Society for the Prevention of Solvent and Volatile Substance (Re-Solv), said: ''The charity has been campaigning for a number of years for such a ban so that children can be better protected. Trading standards officers will enforce the ban - we feel that this is by far the most experienced agency that is able to enforce this new legislation effectively.''

The Government's drugs czar, Mr Keith Hellawell, said he was ''delighted'' at the ban.

He said: ''The problem of solvent abuse is serious. These new measures will help to make it more difficult for young people to get access to gas lighters refills and I hope it will deter them from making the mistake of so many others before them.''

Mr Alistair Ramsay, executive director of Scotland Against Drugs, said: ''This clearly demonstrates the need for a broad series of actions to tackle what is still an area of huge concern, with the death annually of about 150 youngsters in the UK. Clearly some kind of co-ordinated action needs to be taken.''

Mr Ramsay said it was the death of a youngster from solvent abuse during his teaching days in the east end of Glasgow in the 1970s that inspired him to campaign against drugs.

The move was also welcomed by Mrs Margaret Davidson, 45, whose 18-year-old son Christopher died from inhaling butane gas at a party three years ago.

The mother-of-five from Lanarkshire, who set up a solvent abuse hotline last year with her husband Alex, 52, said: ''Some shopkeepers just don't care who they sell these lethal substances to.

''Maybe if they know the effects it can have, they will think twice.

''With the law on our side, parents will be able to do more to combat the rising death toll of butane gas.''

Police chiefs said the ban would help prevent injury to youngsters.

A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland said: ''The new legislation will also act as an incentive to vendors of such materials to bear in mind the consequences the breaking of these rules would have, not only for themselves but for possible victims.''

The Health Education Board for Scotland has been charged with spearheading a campaign involving retailers to highlight the dangers of the refills.

Dr James Inglis, HEBS consultant in public health medicine, said: ''Butane gas is particularly unpredictable and hazardous. Most deaths have occurred among children and teenagers who are using gas for the first or near first time.''