Makers retreat in toilet paper wars

Lavatory paper producers yesterday called a truce in their dispute over the issue of "flushability" after one manufacturer promised to halve the strength of its new brand.

Procter & Gamble confirmed that it was decreasing what the personal hygiene industry calls the "temporary wet strength" of its Charmin range following claims that it might block sewage pipes.

The company, which launched the range three months ago with a £27m marketing campaign, said Charmin would now be produced to a new British-wide specification equivalent to that of the United States. Charmin, which is the top brand in the US and has also taken a 10 per cent share of the £650m British market, will be made to the same levels of "dissolvability and dispersal" as its American version.

The decision was made at a crisis summit of British manufacturers this week under the auspices of their trade body, the Association of Makers of Soft Tissue Products (AMSTP). It follows "genuine concerns" from competitors, including Kimberly-Clark, the maker of the UK market leader Andrex, that matching the new paper for strength could block drains.

Procter & Gamble said there was no evidence for this. Gary Cunningham, the company's public affairs director, said: "There was simply an industry debate on what would be the impact on the entire industry if it moved to a Charmin level of wet strength. We have all now agreed that level."

Charmin, which is being advertised with a series of animated animals answering the call of nature, was launched stronger than its US version following research into British toilet habits. Rather than scrunching paper as their transatlantic cousins do, P&G found Britons tend to fold lavatory paper and argued stronger tissue was thus necessary.

The AMSTP said it was pleased with the new specification, saying the new "appropriate and reasonably conservative" manufacturing criteria would be implemented by next month.