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11 Nissan 5761 - April 4, 2001 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Observations: Babysitter or Baby Hazard?
by A. Turgeman

The military journal, Bamachane, reports that a study recently conducted to test the efficacy of the Shmartaf ["Babysitter"], a gas mask designed for babies up to age three, cast doubt as to its ability to function over an extended period in a sealed room and, according to the researchers, the mask may put sick children at risk.

The study, whose results were published in the U.S. journal Military Medicine, was conducted in the pediatric ward of Ziv Hospital in Tzfat, in cooperation with the Heller Institute for Military Medicine at Tel Hashomer. The research staff included three physicians who checked 11 infants from one to eight months of age who suffered from respiratory problems. Due to restrictions imposed on experiments performed on human subjects, the experiment was limited to just 15 minutes and was conducted in a ventilated rather than a sealed room.

After wearing the Shmartaf for a few minutes the researchers noted a significant reduction in oxygen levels in the baby masks as well as a reduction in the infants' pulse rates and a significant increase in carbon dioxide levels which, they claim, could have an acute effect on infants suffering from irregular breathing.

The findings brought criticism of those responsible. The Shmartaf was developed and is manufactured in Israel and is distributed to every mother upon release from the maternity ward. According to the best estimates, half a million infants and small children in Israel are equipped with the Shmartaf.

The only question is whether the experiment was performed under real-life conditions; since the tests were conducted in a well-ventilated room, the researchers concluded that a short period in the Shmartaf in a ventilated environment does not have far-reaching effects on the infants, but they noted that this does not provide clear indications of the potential effects of an extended period in the Shmartaf in a sealed room during an actual state of alert.

The Central Military Command was unhappy with the study. "The manner in which the study was performed was unprofessional," says the head of the Gas Mask Distribution Administration, Colonel Golan Gilad. "An experiment that lasts for 15 minutes in a ventilated room does not simulate a real-life situation, and therefore the results are not reliable. The standards of the experiment conducted do not come anywhere near the standards for experiments conducted in the military, which simulate all possible situations, under all possible conditions. Every product has to meet highly stringent criteria, and if it fails to meet them, it does not make it out of the factory door."

 

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