§ Lord Braine of Wheatleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many children die each year as a result of breathing in their mother's cigarette smoke. [HL1119]
§ Baroness Jay of PaddingtonAlthough it is not possible to attribute the death of any child directly to exposure to parental tobacco smoke, a recently published report by the scientific committee on tobacco and health (SCOTH) concluded that infants and children exposed to tobacco smoke were more likely to suffer from serious respiratory illnesses and asthma attacks, which are common—and very occasionally fatal—conditions affecting thousands of children. The committee also concluded that the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) doubled with exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. Copies of the report are available in the Library.
However, a co-author, D. Cook, of a key paper considered by SCOTH, Anderson Ross. H, Cook Derek G. Passive smoking and sudden infant death syndrome: review of epidemiological evidence, has publicly stated that one-fifth (i.e, 80 out of the 400 annual England and Wales SIDS deaths) are attributable to maternal smoking.