Air Pollution and SIDS

Tracey J. Woodruff, Jeanne Grille, and Kenneth Schoendorf
Environmental Health Perspectives 1997 (Not yet published)


A new study from the Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says air pollution causes SIDS and other postneonatal mortality. But the question is do they mean sudden-infant-death syndrome or science-is-dead syndrome?

The EPA/CDC researchers says they examined 4 million infants born between 1989 and 1991 and found infants in areas with the most particulate air pollution had 26 percent more SIDS than the lowest polluted areas.

But inquiring minds want to know:

Given all the holes in this study combined with the timing of its release (right before decision time on EPA's proposed air quality standards for particulate matter and ozone), "inquiring minds" conclude air pollution indeed causes SIDS — i.e., science-is-dead syndrome.

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