The numbers signing up to the national petition against Lord Joffe's Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill – have quadrupled in just ten days. On 25 April it had just 5,000 signatures. Today it has 20,000.

Those voting with their pens against the Joffe Bill, which would make it legal for doctors to help their patients kill themselves, come from all walks of life. Of every age, background and from right across the country, petitioners are urging peers to vote down the second reading of the Bill when it is put before them one week from today. Petition forms received by post after the bank holiday last Tuesday were six inches thick with fifteen signatures to a page. 'We are being literally buried' said one CNK staff member.

The petition will be delivered to 10 Downing Street at midday on 12 May, immediately before the Bill is debated in the House of Lords.

There are three ways UK residents may register their rejection of this dangerous piece of legislation.

The petition can be signed online on the Care Not Killing website; or it may be downloaded, printed off and posted to 'Care NOT Killing' Alliance, PO Box 56322, London SE1 8XW; or it can be emailed direct to CNK at info@carenotkilling.org.uk.

Supporters are also urged to download the PDF petition form and collect signatures from family, friends and work colleagues.

Dr Brian Iddon MP, Chairman of CNK, commented: “It is quite obvious there is now an unstoppable momentum building up as thousands of people queue up to register their protest against this deeply flawed and immoral Bill.

“CNK's letter writing campaign, which involves supporters writing to peers, as well as to their own MPs, to express their horror at the prospect of back door euthanasia is also going well. We know that tens of thousands of individual letters have already been sent. One Essex group alone hand delivered 70,000 letters to the House of Lords last week.

“The last few days are crucial as we encourage everyone to fight against the legalisation of assisted suicide. Please sign the petition, if you have not yet done so, and I urge everyone to let parliament know what ordinary people think about Joffe – every individual protest really matters now!”