Crib Death

Lois M. Scheel

1996

Published in:

Social Trends Newsletter, Aug. 1996, No. 150

In an article for the AP Science Writer, 6/96, Paul Recer writes that infant deaths have plummeted 30 percent in two years because more infants are sleeping flat on their backs now than face down. Why is this so? Before World War II mothers were told that babies slept better face down, and no infant deaths caused by this sleeping position were recorded. It was thought then that babies were safer sleeping on their stomachs than on their backs because if they vomited in their sleep, the mucous would not roll back in their throat and drown them If babies didn't die sleeping on their stomachs then, why would they do so now? Doesn't this strike you as being a little strange?

Bob Woffinden, writing for The Guardian (liberal), London, April 1, 1995: "PVC mattress coverings were introduced in 1948-49, and fire retardants were first put into them in 1951. From 1953 onward, the deaths appeared to rise steadily until they significantly increased in the mid-1980s. Under government pressure to enhance fire safety, all companies had put increased amounts of fire retardants into furnishing materials, crib mattresses included. "SIDS, also known as crib death, has not always been an inherent danger of parental life. It was first described as a medical phenomenon by Dr. A.M. Barrett in 1953. He estimated that unexplained infant deaths then were three to four times what they had been a few years earlier and that the additional numbers occurred mainly in sleep. Queries were naturally raised about the historical perspective—perhaps crib death had never previously been noticed, monitored, or recorded—but by the end of the 1960s, the consensus of scientific and medical opinion was that there had been no complete casualty rate before the second world war.

``From 1986-88, approximately 1,500 babies died annually in England and Wales, all in the same mysterious way. They showed no symptoms of illness; they just suddenly capitulated. There were crib deaths in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand and throughout Western Europe. There appeared to be none in parts of Africa and in China, India, nor were there any in Japan where infants slept on cotton futons impregnated with boric acid, a safe fire retardant. Yet Japanese infants in America suffered crib death at the same rate as the rest of the population. However, when Japan imported Western-style mattresses that had become popular, crib death began to appear for the first time.

``English scientist Barry Richardson had spent most of his life studying the deterioration of materials and the associated health risks. More than 200 mattresses that babies had died on were obtained from coroners. All were found to be contaminated with the fungus Scopulariopsis brevicaulis, particularly in the areas exposed to the warmth and perspiration of the baby. The search for arsenic in the presence of much phosphorus and antimony continued. And then it all clicked. This fungus was working on phosphorus and antimony compounds. The tests were repeated, looking for phosphine and stibine (the gaseous form of antimony). They were found right away. Arsenic, phosphorus, and antimony are adjacent Group Five elements in the periodic table and react similarly. Their gaseous forms are exceedingly dangerous, and infants are especially sensitive to them. Once in the bloodstream, the elements cause cardiac inhibition. The heart beats slower and slower until it stops altogether.''

Richardson's scientific findings created a shock wave and some are disputing them. What has never been publicized is that after Richardson completed his research in 1991 and published his report, "Cot Death: Must Babies Still Die?", manufacturers already had been alerted to the risks and changed the composition of the fire-retardant materials, leaving out antimony. So, could this be the reason fewer babies are dying instead of the change from sleeping on their stomachs to their backs?

(Excerpts from Bob Woffinden's article in the April 1, 1995 issue of The Guardian (liberal), London. Partially paraphrased to conserve space.)