Judith Bannon, executive director of SIDS of Pennsylvania and founder of Cribs for Kids (www.cribsforkids.org), applauded the Saving Babies project and said the organization hopes to use the series to rally infant safety advocates to lobby for standardized infant death investigations and review nationwide. 

     Some medical professionals are strongly defending the findings of the Scripps Howard News Service on sudden infant death. They are alarmed to learn that coroners from 157 counties -- the largest being Omaha, Neb. -- reported no accidental suffocations during the last five years. "You’ve gotten the story right. Excellent journalism," said Dr. James Kemp, a nationally prominent SIDS researcher at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

Scripps Howard's latest findings that there is a small, but growing, number of coroners in America who report most infant deaths were actually accidental suffocations is drawing fierce debate around the nation. "Once again, this Scripps News Service series implies that SIDS is a diagnosis usually made in ignorance or laziness by coroners and medical examiners," said Ventura County, Calif., Medical Examiner Ronald O'Halloran.

The following comment was posted on the Idaho Statesman's Web site in response to a "Saving Babies" project story about infanticide.Wake Up GuysSubmitted by buckshot on Mon, 11/19/2007 - 8:20am.<

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has posted some of the findings from Scripps Howard News Service's "Saving Babies: Exposing Sudden Infant Death in America" reporting project. The CDC's Public Health Law Program. "A recent nationwide review has revealed wide variation and sometimes contradictory provisions in state laws addressing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome," the site said. It can be accesses at: http://www2a.cdc.gov/phlp/index.asp

Long-time SIDS activist Suzette Gripp of Tennessee has decided to extend the lifespan of her Global 2000 SIDS Questionnaire, an attempt to solve the mystery of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome through voluntary participation of families who've lost their babies.Suzette originally had planned to stop accepting data from SIDS parents after 6 1/2 years.

Chuck Mihalko, executive manager of the SIDS Network, is urging his members to participate in Scripps Howard's "Saving Babies" project and calling on them to contact their legislators to demand change.

First Candle, one of the nation's oldest and largest family support groups for survivors of sudden infant death, is urging its members to log into this Web site and provide feedback about their experiences with SIDS and the medical investigation into the death of their babies..  The statement can be viewed at: http://www.firstcandle.org/print_friendly/savingbabies.html.  

A number of moms in the Knoxville area are commenting in a forum at KnoxMoms.com on the versions of the Saving Babies stories that were published by the News-Sentinel on Sunday, October 7. Read their discussion here.