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- Title
Urinary antimony levels In infants are low and unrelated to age or passive smoking.
- Authors
Logan, Stuart
- Abstract
This article discusses research being done on urinary antimony levels in infants. Reference to a study by C. Dezateaux et al published in the 1997 issue of the Archives of Disease in Childhood. It has been suggested that sudden infant death syndrome may be caused by a toxic form of antimony microbiologically generated from fire retardants used in plastic cot mattress covers. Although subsequent studies have not supported this link there has continued to be considerable anxiety about the possible effects of antimony on infants. It has also been suggested that exposure to passive smoking might lead to harmful increases in antimony levels in infants. Urine samples were available from a substantial number of infants for this study and the low levels found provide some evidence that antimony is unlikely to be a major health hazard in infants although clearly some effect, even at these low levels, cannot be ruled out. The fact that no increase in levels was found in individual infants over time, even though all samples were collected after 1988 when many manufacturers had increased the level of antimony in mattress covers, suggests that cumulative poisoning is at least uncommon.
- Subjects
URINE; ANTIMONY; INFANT health; SUDDEN infant death syndrome; FIREPROOFING agents; TOXICOLOGICAL emergencies
- Publication
Child: Care, Health & Development, 1997, Vol 23, Issue 5, p423
- ISSN
0305-1862
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1365-2214.1997.tb00909.x