The Cot Death Cover-up?

Published by Penguin Books: New Zealand 1996;  United Kingdom

1997

By Jim Sprott

Auckland, New Zealand.

CHAPTER 1

INSPIRATION IN BRITAIN

Summer 1988.  In the leafy suburban precinct of Lainston Close

near the ancient cathedral city of Winchester, a family wedding

was being celebrated.  The bride was the daughter of unassuming

British consulting scientist Barry Richardson and his wife

Janet.  On the lawn was a large marquee where speeches were

made, toasts drunk and merriment prevailed.

The Richardsons had hired the marquee from Mitchell Marquees.

Peter Mitchell, proprietor of the marquee company, is an

ebullient entrepreneur living in Winchester, where he has

various business interests.  In his early days - doing a reverse

Grand Tour - he visited New Zealand and for a while worked on

the construction of the Auckland Harbour Bridge.  Now in his

sixties, he specialises in the manufacture and hiring out of

marquees and other outdoor amenities.  He's good at it.  So

good, in fact, that he has even supplied equipment for the

Wimbledon Tennis Tournament and the Farnborough Air Display.

It has always seemed to me that Peter Mitchell was an unlikely

person to stumble upon the cause of cot death, but that is what

he did.  And it all came about unexpectedly.

Soon after the wedding Barry and Peter, both members of the

Rotary Club in Winchester, were sitting together at lunch.  When

Peter learned that Barry was a consulting scientist,

specialising in preventing the degradation of materials, he was

immediately interested.  He had a problem with his marquees and

awnings. They were made of heavy PVC (polyvinyl chloride)

plastic, and there was a deterioration problem:  after a short

period a fungal growth appeared, causing unsightly staining.

Peter asked Barry to investigate the problem and tell him how to

overcome it.

Barry's reply was that no investigation was needed: the staining

was caused by a common fungus which became established in the

plastic, consuming the plasticiser in the PVC as a food source.

(PVCis a rigid plastic, hard and brittle, and not widely used in

this form.  The familiar flexible sheeting is rendered pliable

by the introduction of plasticisers, of which there are several

types.  The most common types used in ordinary PVC sheeting are

called 'external plasticisers'.  These are low volatility

organic solvents which are mutually soluble in the PVC.  As more

of the plasticiser is blended with the original PVC, the

sheeting becomes more tough and flexible.)

Peter took Barry's answer back to his PVC supplier, who told him

the problem could be overcome by increasing the amount of

biocide in the PVC, thus killing the fungus.   A biocide is a

material which prevents the growth of micro-organisms.  Biocides

used in PVC are frequently based upon the toxic element arsenic

and are added to plastics intended for use in the tropics.  The

actual compound which the PVC supplier was using was OBPA

(oxybisphenoxyarsine).

The supplier's suggestion was vetoed by Barry, who explained:

'The biocide won't kill this fungus - instead, the fungus will

consume the biocide as well as the plasticiser.  Since the

biocide contains arsenic, the fungus will generate a very

poisonous gas, which would be harmful to your staff working with

the marquees.'

The PVC supplier listened politely to Barry's warning but didn't

accept it.

Not knowing who to believe - Barry or his PVC supplier - Peter

contacted the OPBA manufacturer in Austria, whose reply was even

stronger: Barry was talking nonsense and OBPA was perfectly

safe.  And then came the crucial remark: 'It's even approved for

use in babies' mattresses.'

Peter pondered on this strange reply, and at about midnight that

night woke suddenly with the thought: if Barry is right and the

supplier is wrong, could this be the cause of cot death?  As

soon as it was dawn, he phoned Barry.  'Yes, it could be,' said

Barry 'and I'll even name the fungus for you: it's probably

Scopulariopsis brevicaulis.'

On this note started the research programme which finally

elucidated the answer to cot death, a problem which had

confounded medical researchers worldwide, consumed millions of

research dollars, and caused the deaths of so many infant

children.  The research destroyed the conventional wisdom that

cot death has many causes, gave the answer to every known factor

about cot death which epidemiologists had discovered, and also

provided a cheap and immediate means of eliminating it.