Antimony leaching from cot mattresses and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

1 Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cot mattress covers from SIDS cases were investigated as potential sources of soluble (potentially ingestable) antimony in the cot environment. 2 Body fluids (urine, saliva) and proprietary domestic detergents/sterilizing fluids markedly enhanced leaching of antimony from PVC. Release of antimony was also enhanced at both low and high pH and by elevated temperature. The extent of antimony leaching did not correlate well with PVC content of this element. 3 These data do not support the assumption that postmortem analysis of antimony content proves exposure to gaseous antimony trihydride from mattress PVC. 4 Ingestion of antimony released from PVC could account for the high variability associated with reported detectable levels of antimony in liver from both SIDS and other infants. It could also explain suspected additional postnatal exposure to this element, which gives rise to elevated levels of Sb in the hair of some healthy infants.