TOXIC GAS GENERATION FROM PLASTIC MATTRESSES AND SUDDEN-INFANT-DEATH-SYNDROME

Microbial generation of toxic gases from antimony, arsenic, or phospho rus in compounds used as fire retardants in cot mattresses has been pr oposed as a cause of sudden infant death. To test this hypothesis, 23 polyvinyl chloride mattress samples from cot death cases were incubate d on malt agar plates until good microbial growth was obtained. Silver nitrate and mercuric chloride test papers were then inserted and the colour reactions recorded. The predominant organism, recovered from al l mattresses tested, was not, as claimed in earlier work, the fungus S copulariopsis brevicaulis, but a mix of common environmental Bacillus spp. Test paper colour changes occurred whenever bacterial growth was present, but these reactions also occurred in control tests in which n o mattress material was present on the plates. Chemical and instrument al analyses of exposed test papers showed that the colour reactions we re not due to deposits of antimony, arsenic, or phosphorus. Our findin gs do not support the hypothesis that toxic gases derived from antimon y, arsenic, or phosphorus are a cause of sudden infant death. More sul phur was found in test papers exposed in plates containing bacterial g rowth than in those without such growth. This result suggests that the test paper reactions were due to the generation of sulphur-containing compounds during bacterial growth on the agar medium.