§ Mr. John BrowneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will provide details of the incidence of child cot deaths from 1960 to date, indicating the difference between winter and summer months; what information he has on the possibility that cot deaths can be caused by poisonous gases resulting from the growth of fungi in soiled cot mattresses containing PVC; and if he will make a statement on the results of his Department's research into this subject.
§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomley[holding answer 18 December 1989]: Figures from 1971, the earliest date from which information is available, on numbers of mentions of sudden infant death syndrome on death certificates are provided in the table. Two qualifications need to be made in any assessment of an overall trend. First, the numbers of births in each year need to be taken into account. Secondly, over this period, respiratory disease has diminished as a reported cause of infant death and there has been a corresponding increase in the reporting of sudden infant death.
Details of a theory that gas emitted from the action of fungus on PVC mattresses may be a cause of sudden infant death have been submitted to the Department. A scientific assessment of the evidence is being undertaken by the Laboratory of the Government Chemist.
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Year January Feburary March April May June July August September October November December Total 1986 174 188 146 138 123 82 79 73 84 106 136 201 1,530 1987 173 169 172 127 89 123 80 68 81 131 149 212 1,574 1988 178 182 177 123 120 116 87 89 97 134 146 180 1,629 1 International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, code 798.0.