Published in today's New York Times:

To the Editor:

Penelope Leach's Oct. 1 Op-Ed article on a recent Government study on the
risks of infants sleeping in adult beds misses several important points.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission did not reach its conclusions after
just one study.

Since 1989 the agency has warned parents and caregivers that infants should
never sleep in adult beds because of the risk of entrapment or suffocation.

However, this is the first comprehensive study to quantify the number of
fatalities resulting from infants sleeping in bed with an adult: that every
year 64 children under the age of 2 die in adult beds.

This is critical safety information published by the American Medical
Association. What if we gathered this data and withheld it from parents?
While it is certainly up to parents to decide how best to keep their infants
safe, our study provides vital information parents can use in making those
decisions.

ANN BROWN
Chairwoman, Consumer Product Safety Commission
Washington, Oct. 1, 1999

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