DISABLED campaigner Chris Searle has vowed to press ahead with her demands for a public inquiry into a medical practice she claims left her wheelchair-bound.

After a back injury forced Chris out of nursing when she was 21, doctors carried out an operation to rectify her spine and as part of the procedure a dye was injected into her back.

Now Chris, and dozens who underwent the same operation, are claiming the dye is responsible for crippling back conditions that has left many of them dependent on crutches and wheelchairs.

Chris, 52, said: "After the operation my condition deteriorated to the point where my quality of life was poor. I wasn't able to and still can't get full-time employment as I am just not capable of standing for any length of time."

Chris is a member of the Myodil Action Group, a national group that is pressing for a public inquiry into the dye to prove it is responsible for their condition, known as arachnoiditis.

She said: "We are convinced that the dye is responsible for the suffering of many people and we are calling for MPs to join us to form an all-party pressure group.

"The NHS has been left to pick up the pieces after this dye caused many people to become cripples. After the thalidomide scandal this sort of thing just shouldn't happen."

Myodil was the dye used on many patients as an enhanced x-ray to determine their condition until it was withdrawn in 1987 over public health fears.

A spokesman for GlaxoWell-come the pharmaceutical company, which supplied the drug in the UK, said: "Glaxo has already settled a compensation claim from arachnoiditis sufferers who came forward in the early 1990s but we have drawn a line under that and don't accept any more claims.

"The dye was injected into the spines of people who already had back problems so there is no clear evidence of a causal link. The dye even came with advice that a side effect could be arachnoiditis."

Chris, of Anns Hill Road, Gos-port, hopes an exhibition she has organised in Gosport Library will raise the profile of the campaign.

"We want to show that this situation affects the families and friends of those who are crippled by this condition and also to make people who might not be aware, that their back pains are a result of this dye."

The exhibition is on display in Gosport Library, High Street, until May 28.