Many British parents
will be unaware of a 100% successful cot death prevention campaign which
a New Zealand scientist, Dr. Jim Sprott, has been running in New Zealand
for over five years.
Dr Sprott states with certainty that the cause of cot death has been
discovered: it is caused by very toxic nerve gases which can be generated
from mattresses and certain other bedding used in babies' cots.
The solution is to prevent exposure of babies to the gases, by wrapping
mattresses in accordance with a specified protocol and ensuring that
bedding used on top of a wrapped mattresses does not contain any phosphorus,
arsenic or antimony (the chemicals which - when combined with fungal
growth - can result in the gas generation concerned).
And the method works. Since late 1994 mattress-wrapping has been publicised
nationwide in New Zealand, and many tens of thousands of parents have
wrapped their babies' mattresses. Prior to the commencement of mattress-wrapping,
New Zealand had the highest cot death rate in the world (2.1 deaths
per 1000 live births). Following the adoption of mattress-wrapping the
New Zealand cot death rate has fallen by over 50% - and there has been
no reported cot death among those babies who have slept on correctly
wrapped mattresses. The cot death rate among non-Maori parents has fallen
even further, by an estimated 70%. It is much easier to convey new ideas
of this type to Pakeha (non-Maori) people. The NZ Minister of Health
stated about 2 years ago; "We know that it's Pakeha who are mattress-wrapping".
This major reduction in the New Zealand cot death rate cannot be attributed
to orthodox cot death prevention advice (e.g. face-up sleeping).
There has been no material change in that advice in New Zealand since
1992.
So what does DR Sprott say about orthodox cot death advice?
- Don't smoke around your baby.
Recent history refutes any suggestion that smoking causes cot death,
says DR Sprott. Smoking was very common in Britain in the 1930s
and 1940s, but cot death was virtually nonexistent. Smoking is prevalent
in present-day Russia and Japan, but the cot death rates are low.
No cause-and-effect relationship between smoking and cot death has
been established - they are socioeconomic parallels. Put another
way, smoking is more common among poorer people, and so is cot death.
But it does not follow that smoking is therefore a cot death risk
factor.
- Don't bedshare with your baby if you also smoke or smoked during
pregnancy.
Misleading advice, says DR Sprott. The risk posed by bedsharing
does not arise from smoking - it arises from the mattress. Adults'
mattresses very frequently contain the same chemical and fungi as
babies' mattresses, and therefore they can generate the same toxic
gas/es. (For physiological reasons adults are not put at risk by
this gas generation in mattresses.)
- Sleep your baby with feet to the foot of the cot.
According to DR Sprott, this practice affords no protection whatsoever
against cot death. Any area on an unwrapped mattress where a baby
sleeps is a potential source of toxic gas, since that is the area
which becomes warm and moist (promoting the fungal activity which
can cause gas generation).
- Sleep your baby face up. Face-up sleeping is a partial preventive
against cot death. This is because the gases which cause cot death
are more dense than air. They diffuse away towards the floor, and
therefore a baby sleeping face up is less likely to inhale them.
So the partial success of face-up sleeping confirms the toxic gas
theory. And so does much more research. According to DR Sprott (who
has a PhD in chemistry and is expert in the gas generation concerned),
every step in the toxic gas theory for cot death has been proved.
A considerable amount of this research has been written up and published
in peer-reviewed medical and other scientific journals. In fact,
mattress-wrapping for cot death prevention is supported by wider
research than supported the introduction of various items of orthodox
advice (including face-up sleeping). And contrary to claims by numerous
orthodox cot death researchers, the 1998 UK Limerick Report did
not disprove the toxic gas theory (as a New Zealand environmental
scientist has pointed out in the New Zealand Medical Journal).
So why don't orthodox cot death researchers tell parents to wrap
babies' mattresses? DR Sprott suggests a variety of possible reasons:
- First, cot death research has been a big gravy train for medical
researchers. In Britain it continues to be so (although not in
New Zealand, where research funding has nearly ground to a halt
as people have become aware that mattress-wrapping is easy, cheap
and 100% successful in preventing cot death).
- The toxic gas theory has been publicised since 1989 (first in
Britain), but it has been hotly denied by researchers and organisations
responsible for advising parents. In the intervening period, many
thousands of babies have died of cot death. But the New Zealand
experience shows that those deaths were avoidable - and that raises
the prospect of legal liability for babies' deaths.
Some researchers have stated that cot death may have a number of
causes (the multifactorial theory). Not so, says DR Sprott. At this
point he draws attention to a highly significant piece of information
about cot death, which is demonstrated by British statistics: the
cot death risk rises from the first baby in a family to the second,
and from the second baby to the third, and so on. Babies of solo
parents have a very high cot death rate.
DR Sprott explains that the rising rate of cot death from one sibling
to the next destroys every medical and physiological theory for
the cause of cot death.
- For example, some researchers think cot death is caused by
babies re-breathing their exhaled carbon dioxide. However, all
babies exhale a similar amount of CO2, regardless of whether
they are first, second or later babies. Therefore, the rising
rate of cot death from one sibling to the next refutes the CO2
theory.
- Some researchers think cot death is related to the size of
babies' airways. However, for this theory to be valid would
require second babies' airways to be smaller than those of first
babies; and third babies' airways to be smaller than those of
second babies; and so on. Clearly, therefore, the airways theory
is wrong, because the size of babies' airways is not related
to birth order.
So what is the explanation for the rising rate of cot death from
one sibling to the next? Cot death is caused by gases generated
in mattresses - and most parents re-use mattresses from one baby
to the next. If a mattress contains any of the chemicals concerned
and fungi have become established in the mattress during previous
use by another baby, generation of toxic gas commences sooner
and in greater volume when the mattress is re-used.
This accounts for the rising rate of cot death from one sibling
to the next. It also accounts for the very high cot death rate
among babies of solo parents, who for economic reasons are more
likely to sleep their babies on previously used mattresses which
they have acquired secondhand.
It all fits from a theoretical point of view, says DR Sprott -
and the five-year New Zealand experience provides practical proof
that mattress-wrapping prevents cot death.
Orthodox cot death researchers say that cot death rates have fallen
without the introduction of mattress-wrapping - and they have.
But DR Sprott points out a crucial difference: Many babies have
died of cot death where parents followed orthodox cot death prevention
advice - but there has been no reported cot death on a correctly
wrapped mattress. Unlike orthodox advice, mattress-wrapping has
a 100% success record in cot death prevention.
Please note: Mattress-wrapping must be carried out in accordance with
a strict protocol. For full information, contact DR Sprott by e-mail
(sprott@iconz.co.nz) or visit
the following website: www.cotlife2000.co.nz
Research which confirms and supports the toxic gas theory
for cot death:
Publication of the Toxic Gas Theory:
The toxic gas theory for cot death was published by British scientist
Barry Richardson in 1994: "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: a possible
primary cause", Journal of the Forensic Science Society 1994;34(3):199-204
Publication of Proof of the Gas Generation Involved:
The fungal generation of extremely toxic nerve gases from compounds
of phosphorus, arsenic and antimony has been demonstrated many
times over the last century. Recent confirmations are:
"Toxic gas generation from plastic mattresses and sudden infant
death syndrome", Lancet 1995;346:1516-20
"Confirmation of the Biomethylation of Antimony Compounds", Applied
Organometallic Chemistry 1997; Vol. 11, 471-483
Publication of Proof of the Presence of Fungal Growth in Babies'
Mattresses:
Barry Richardson, JFSS 1994;34(3):199-204
Final Report of the Expert Group to Investigate Cot Death Theories:
Toxic Gas Hypothesis (Limerick Report), May 1998
Publication of Proof of the Presence of the Elements Phosphorus,
Arsenic and Antimony in Babies' Bedding:
Analyses of bedding reported by Jim Sprott in The Cot Death Cover-up?
(Penguin, 1996)
Publication of Proof of the Generation of Highly Toxic Gases
from Compounds of Phosphorous, Arsenic and Antimony in Babies'
Mattresses and Other Bedding:
Richardson, B A, "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: a possible primary
cause", Journal of the Forensic Science Society 1994;34(3):199-204
Cullen, W R, Microbial studies of sheepskin bedding", SIDS 2000
Conference, Auckland, February 2000
Fitzpatrick M G, "The Evolution of Phosphine from Cot Mattress
Materials", Department of Chemistry, University of Auckland, Final
Report, December 1997
Publication of Proof that the Reuse of Mattresses Increases
the Risk of Cot Death (A Corollary of the Toxic Gas Theory):
"Case-control study of sudden infant death syndrome in Scotland,
1992-5", British Medical Journal 1997;314:1516-20
Proof that the Risk of Cot Death Rises from First to Second
Babies; and from Second to Third Babies; and from Third to Fourth
and Later Babies; and that Babies of Solo Parents Are at Higher
Risk Again (A Corollary of the Fact that Reuse of Mattresses Increases
the Risk of Cot Death):
Analysis of official British statistics:
- The finding of the rising risk of cot death from one sibling
to the next refutes every proposition that cot death has a
medical cause.
- The more times an unwrapped mattress is used from one baby
to the next, the greater is the risk of cot death. This accounts
for the higher cot death rate among poorer families, who are
more likely to sleep their babies on previously used mattresses.
- If a mattress contains any of the elements phosphorus, arsenic
or antimony, and if certain common household fungi have become
established in the mattress during prior use, any generation
of toxic gas commences sooner and in greater volume.
Publication of Proof that Later Babies in a Family Are More
at Risk of Cot Death than First Babies (A Corollary of the Fact
that Reuse of Mattresses Increases the Risk of Cot Death):
"Risk factors of sudden infant death in Chinese babies", American
Journal of Epidemiology 1997;144:1070-73
Publication of Proof that Face-up Sleeping Reduces the Risk
of Cot Death:
All studies which show that face-up sleeping reduces the risk
of cot death support the toxic gas theory. Face-up sleeping
reduces the risk because the gases concerned are more dense
than air; they diffuse away from a baby's mattress towards the
floor, so a baby sleeping face-up is less likely to ingest them.
Publication of Proof that Cot Death Babies Show Physiological
Effects of Gaseous Poisoning:
"Decreased Kainate Receptor Binding in the Arcuate Nucleus
of the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome", Journal of Neuropathology
and Experimental Neurology 1997;56:1253-61: proof that cot death
babies have neurochemical deficits consistent with poisoning
by nerve gases.
Publication of Proof that the Cot Death Risk Varies with
Mattress Type:
New Zealand Cot Death Study (1987-1990)
Publication of Proof that the Cot Death Risk in Britain
is Less on PVC-Covered Mattresses:
CESDI study, reported in Lancet 1995;345:720
Any part of a baby's mattress which contains the chemicals
phosphorus, arsenic and/or antimony is capable of the gas generation
which causes cot death.
If, therefore, a mattress is covered with a gas-impermeable
diaphragm which does not contain those chemicals, the risk of
cot death is eliminated.
Accordingly, following removal of those chemicals from UK plastic-covered
mattresses from 1989 onwards, the risk of cot death in Britain
is less on PVC-covered mattresses (which are very frequently
used in Britain).
Thus the finding by the CESDI study that babies are less at
risk on PVC-covered mattresses supports the toxic gas theory
for cot death.
Book Regarding the Toxic Gas Theory for Cot Death:
Jim Sprott, The Cot Death Cover-up? (Penguin, 1996).
MEDIA RELEASE:
T James Sprott OBE
MSc PhD FNZIC
Consulting Chemist, Forensic Scientist
10 Combes Road
Remuera Auckland 5
New Zealand
23 July 2001
Sprott: Cot Deaths of Maori Twins Entirely Preventable
DR Jim Sprott is calling on the Ministry of Health to immediately
endorse mattress-wrapping for cot death prevention, following
the cot deaths last week of twin babies in Lower Hutt.
The twin baby girls (aged two months) died of cot death on
the same day, while both were sleeping on the same mattress
in a shared cot.
"These babies were poisoned by toxic gas generated in their
cot mattress or bedding," said DR Sprott. "That's why they both
died, on the same mattress, within an hour of each other, even
though they were healthy babies. These terribly sad deaths are
further proof that cot death is caused by gaseous poisoning."
Following the twins' death, DR Pat Tuohy, Chief Advisor on
Child Health at the Ministry of Health, stated his opinion that
the twins could have been subjected to an adverse environmental
factor at the same time.
"DR Tuohy is quite correct," said DR Sprott. "Cot death is
caused by environmental poisoning."
DR Sprott said that over recent years he had provided DR Tuohy
with a considerable body of research which confirms and supports
the toxic gas explanation for cot death. DR Tuohy was present
at the SIDS 2000 Conference when a scientific expert reported
proof of toxic gas generation from sheepskins used as baby bedding.
"DR Tuohy is aware of the six year nationwide mattress-wrapping
campaign, and that there has been no reported cot death on a
wrapped mattress," said DR Sprott.
"So why won't DR Tuohy advise parents to wrap mattresses so
that babies are not exposed to the toxic gases which can be
generated in cots?"
DR Sprott stated that the death of the twins was entirely preventable.
DR Sprott will be contacting a Wellington lawyer regarding
the possibility of group legal action by cot death parents who
were not informed by babycare advisers about mattress-wrapping.
He said that possible defendants included the Ministry of Health,
the Plunket Society, and the National Child Health Research
Foundation (the parent body of the Cot Death Association).
Every Parent Has the Right to Know!
We need to get mattress wrapping for cot death prevention recognised
in the UK, All parents are entitled to know that something can
be done to protect their babies from cot death. Something simple
to follow and inexpensive and what's more - It Works!
Cot Life 2000 is saving babies from cot death. Please - Help
Spread the Word about Cot Life 2000.
Many Thanks
Julee Oakley
juleeoakley@eurobell.co.uk
The Cot Life Society UK
http://www.geocities.com/cotlife/
