S.I.D.S.

S.I.D.'S OTHERWISE KNOWN AS; SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME

I do not belong to the Medical profession, so what I am about to tell you is not medical information, only the knowledge, gained from years of working with fabrics.

I have been around since before manmade fabrics. I began working with fabrics in 1944. Up until the late 50's we had never heard of SIDS deaths among infants. It became well known in the 60's. This also coincided with the use in the 50's with manmade fibers for children's sheets and blankets. It became A well known cause of death by the time we were using plastics as mattress covers and crib liners for the sides of the cribs. Today we now use plastic fibers for diapers. Is this just a coincidence? I don't believe it is so I am going to tell you a bit about these fibers and my experiences with them.

Orlon, Nylon, and plastics are materials that are made from a number of materials, including fish oils, tar, and oil from the ground. They all have a breakdown point where they are discentigrating, giving off gasses in minute amounts. We don't notice it because we don't live in airtight compartments. There is always an airflow carrying these breakdown gases and dispersing them into the atmosphere. And the small particles that are disintegrating are so small that we can't even see them. Much like the constant skin flakes that we are losing all the time. Now add to that information two other facts; I. The small lungs of a baby, not to mention it's underdeveloped insides just getting used to breathing air for the first time. 2. The plain fact that a baby is always peeing it's diaper. And what is urine? One of the most dangerous Components of a gas that killed thousands of soldiers during WW1, AMMONIA!

Now, take those two factors and put them together. When a mother uses pampers for diapers they hold so much pee that sometimes babies don't get changed as often as we would have done so when there were no diaper covers. Now a baby can go two or three times without getting changed. That is a lot of ammonia fumes hanging about. Add to that the plastic guards going up the side of the crib to prevent the baby from sticking it's head in the bars, and you have a bit of a closed in area keeping the ammonia fumes in. Nor does it help when the sheets, blankets and clothing are all man made fibers giving off their own gas's as they decay. We used these things because we thought they were safe and they were supposed to be so sanitary and helpful. Well, maybe they are not as safe as we would like them to be. What we are doing is putting our tiny infants into a gas chamber.

No, not all babies die in them. Why? Well, there are mothers who change the diapers on a regular basis. Cribs are in a good airflow space. Some babies are bigger and healthier than others and can survive in spite of the problem.

In order to convince you of this let me tell you a little story. As head tailor of a large department store I worried about the health and well being of my workers. As a one time designer of clothing and having worked in the clothing business for a long time I knew quite a lot about fabrics made of 'plastic's. I also knew how dangerous they could be in an enclosed space when you are using hot irons and big steam presses. So I had given my workers strict instructions that if ever the fans were to quit while I was out of the store they were to phone maintenance immediately and quit the shop until they were fixed. No ifs ands or buts, just do it. I saw the looks on their faces and realized what I was up against. Most of them were new immigrants or very old and new little about man made fabrics except their wearing ability. Three weeks later the fans went down while I was at lunch out of the building. They ignored it until one of the women passed out and the rest got woozy. Since there was no other means of air ventilation in the shop they were lucky it wasn't worse, but the lesson went home. And this was not a small room! So imagine what a hot little baby body wetting its diaper and adding ammonia fumes to the plastic is going through?

What I cannot understand is why the medical profession has not picked up on this. Is it because the world of plastics is not even considered to be a substance that can destroy? Or that ammonia fumes combined with plastic in an enclosed space is not dangerous? Of course it couldn't be because the plastic and diaper business are multimillion dollar corporations?