T James Sprott OBE                                                        

MSc PhD FNZIC                                                                                

Consulting Chemist                                                

Forensic Scientist                                                                         New Zealand

 

 

June 2000

 The Cot Death Revolution

 Recently the editor of a scientific journal, referring to a dispute between orthodoxy and science in a certain field of medicine wrote:

“There are three stages in any revolution.

 The first is that of derision, when the innovators are ignored or laughed at.

 The second stage, depending on the persistence of the innovators and how correct they are in their innovation, is that of resistance. This is the "bloody" stage, where "heads roll" and persecution is exercised by the authoritarians of the day. If the "rebels" increase in number and as their philosophy becomes unmistakably better than that which they are attempting to replace, the authoritarians become increasingly angry and hostile. The war between the two factions heats up.

 The third stage of revolution is that of acceptance by those who were previously the persecutors. Not only do they embrace the new philosophy, but in the annals of history they become the discoverers. The original pioneers are forgotten."

 There have been many such revolutions in the past, where medical dogma of the day has been challenged by scientific thought. Orthodox practices were challenged by scientists who were vilified in their day, yet the scientist were subsequently proved correct and mankind was the better for it. And in most cases the instigators of the revolutions are largely forgotten while their contributions are now regarded as commonplace.

 Names which come to mind are those of Dr Semmelweiss, renowned for his discovery of the cause of deaths of mothers in childbirth due to septicaemia, of Dr Edward Jenner in Britain for the development of inoculation against smallpox; and more recently - in the USA - that of double Nobel Prize-winning chemist Dr Linus Pauling who elucidated the vitally important functions of vitamins C and E.  All were howled down by contemporary medical orthodoxy, yet today the discoveries they made are accepted as fact worldwide.

 Those who have followed the cot death controversy will see a graphic parallel. Orthodox thinking in the cot death arena is facing a similar revolution arising from scientific research and logical thought. 

 Stage 1 of this revolution has passed. The laughter and disdain are over.

 Stage 2 reached its zenith at the closing session of the SIDS 2000 Conference in Auckland, February 2000. The anger at the Conference which erupted as I recounted the success of the revolutionary concept was proof of that. With barely concealed fury the Chairperson of SIDS International, Ms Kaarene Fitzgerald from Australia exploded. "It's time you New Zealanders sorted all this out" she said, berating me (the invited speaker) and those concerned. And all the while the 350 delegates from overseas stared with disbelief at this outburst.

 This disarray and display of anger means that Stage 3 cannot be far away - in fact there are signs that it is imminent.  In the not distant future this revolution will have run its course and all babies will be protected against the poisons which cause cot death. Cot death will be a thing of the past, and the world will be left mourning the million or so cot deaths.   It will become as obsolete as smallpox and septicaemia, and people in New Zealand and elsewhere will look back in wonder at the battle it took for science to overcome prejudice. 

 But history tells us that we should not be optimistic about the future with regard to controversy between science and medicine. Inevitably there will be some other scientific revolution against some other medical dogma, and then another, and then another, probably ad infinitum.  And people will suffer and die, needlessly, while these controversies run their course.

 For that seems to be the way of the world.

 

T J Sprott

 

ps: (year 2003)  Ms Fitzgerald died of cancer recently.  She was a cot death mother. While I sympathised with her over the loss of her baby, and also the cancer,  regrettably her legacy of denial of the cause of cot death, and how easily it can be prevented, lives on in SIDS & Kids Australia.