Comments by Dawn Winkler

Note: This was written in response to a previous article entitled Victory Over SIDS that appeared in the November 5, 2000 edition of the newsletter.

I am very familiar with Dr. Sprott and the BabeSafe mattress wrap, but I am compelled to differ with him somewhat on his toxic gas SIDS theory, based on my 5 years of research. This research has led me to believe that in many instances, it is the vaccine that causes SIDS. I don't doubt that some deaths are brought on by gases created by circumstances stemming from crib mattresses and other sources. I also don't discount that some infants die, who are unvaccinated, from a basic immaturity. This same immaturity can be brought on or exacerbated by vaccination, such as with demyelination or delayed myelination.

Of course, premature infants will be even more immature and are much more likely to die of SIDS. I am bringing this to your attention because I feel that it is imperative that parents are not led to believe that vaccination does not play a significant role in SIDS. Therefore, I'm not sure that BabeSafe is the answer; maybe it is and maybe not. But I know that not vaccinating lowers the risk.

I've spoken with many parents whose children died face up on all kinds of surfaces other than crib mattresses, some even in their mother's arms. They all tell the same story - Their child was not the same from the time they were vaccinated until they died. They started sleeping more, they wouldn't eat, they had a high-pitched scream, etc. Some even had trouble breathing. These are classic vaccine reactions. Some parents were "lucky" enough (for lack of a better word) to have medical examiners with experience and honesty who documented the truth and actually put "encephalopathy" and other classic pathological evidence of vaccine damage in the autopsy report.

The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has even compensated 93 families whose infants' deaths were labeled SIDS because the parent had the evidence in the autopsy to prove the vaccine caused it. Yet, the cause of death listing as "SIDS" was never changed on the death certificates of these 93 babies. This information comes from the Freedom of Information Office.

Studies show that SIDS babies have a significant degree of delayed myelination compared to controls (infants who died of known causes). They also have significantly lower levels of creatine kinase in almost every region of their brain. Creatine kinase is critical for heart function, production of ATP, breathing, blood pressure, and plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of hypoxia. Delayed myelination or demyelination is most likely affecting creatine kinase levels. We know that vaccination can CAUSE demyelination as well as delayed myelination. In fact, SIDS infants may possess even antibodies to myelin basic protein, although no one has checked to my knowledge. Studies have shown that children who have become autistic after their MMR vaccine have tested positive for antibodies to myelin basic protein. I'm not saying all SIDS cases are vaccine related, but I'd stake my life on the claim that 60% or more are. I'm actually writing a book on this very subject presently.

Here are a few points of interest, but this is just the "tip of the iceberg":

• Of 297 death claims filed with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) with SIDS listed as cause of death, 93 have been compensated up to $250,000 because the court felt that the death was really vaccine induced. 28 have not been adjudicated at this point; the remaining 176 were thrown out.
• Of 471 Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) death reports covering a 4 year period, roughly 60% have the term "SIDS" somewhere in the report along with descriptions like "high pitched screaming from time vaccinated until death".
• "These SIDS deaths were significantly more than expected were there no association between DTP immunization and SIDS. These deaths were also significantly more than expected. These data suggest a temporal association between DTP immunization, physician visits without DTP immunization and SIDS." (Pediatric Infectious Disease - "Possible temporal association between diphtheria-tetanus-toxoid-pertussis vaccination and sudden infant death syndrome" , Larry J. Baraff, MD, et. al. Vol2, No 1, 1983 p7-11)
• "…we found the SIDS mortality rate in the period zero to three days following DTP to be 7.3 times that in the period beginning 30 days after immunization." (From American Journal of Public Health - "Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis Immunization and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome", Alexander M. Walker, MD, et. al., Vol77, No 8, 1987 p945-950.
  
• "Causality between DPT, NMS, and SIDS is indicated by the brief intervals, atypical age for SIDS or NMS in some, similar SIDS pathology and symptoms in DPT postvaccinal deaths in the literature, reports of DPT-triggered apnea by Shannon, and experimental SIDS animal models by Steinman and Torch (1985)". (From Neurology - "Diphtheria-Pertussis-Tetanus (DPT) May Be an Unrecognized Cause of Sudden Infant Death (SIDS) and Near-miss Syndrome (NMS): 12 Case Reports", William C. Torch, April 1986, p149)
  
• Viera Schiebner, Ph.D. found that all infants experience shallow and/or stressed breathing for up to 30 days following vaccination. She used a unique monitor developed by her husband, a bio-medical engineer that measures breathing. Neither of them suspected vaccines as a cause of SIDS when they began their research, but the evidence was too significant to ignore. Certain days (48 hours, 5-7 days, day 16, and day 24) showed extremely shallow breathing for all infants. These days just happen to correspond with Larry Baraff's study (cited above), he showed certain days to have increased risk for SIDS and he admitted he didn't understand why. (see article on this topic)
  
• Three unrelated respiratory therapists were interviewed by phone and confided that they warn parents using apnea monitors in non-apneic children to expect more frequent apnea alarms in the few days following vaccination.

As much as I'd like to believe that BabeSafe would save every child from SIDS, one case in particular stands out in my mind. I have become good friends with the mother of a 17-month old girl who died the night of her MMR, Hib, and DPT vaccines. The child had been walking, talking, the whole nine yards. She happened to be a little ill, coming off of antibiotics. She received all three shots (for 7 different diseases) and died during that same night. The pathology in this case is so undeniable, so clear, that I just can't believe that had she been sleeping on a BabeSafe product it would have saved her. This baby girl died from blatant encephalopathy that was clearly vaccine caused. Still, the autopsy report concluded that the cause of death was "unknown" despite the documented encephalopathy.

Her mother filed a claim with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program seven years ago and is finally going to be compensated with the next few months. This is not an isolated instance. I deal with parents like this all the time. Her case just stands out because the child was so much older than typical SIDS cases.

I am not against Dr. Sprott or BabeSafe. I only wish to add this information for a more complete picture.

Sincerely, Dawn Winkler

former Vice President, Concerned Parents for Vaccine Safety

email: noshots4me@yahoo.com