Mr. Speaker, last week, the CBC reported that researchers at Toronto's Sick Children's Hospital had published a study pointing to a link between sudden infant death syndrome and secondhand smoke.
Researchers examined the lungs of 44 infants who had died of SIDS and the lungs of 29 other infants who succumbed to other diseases. The study showed that the SIDS victims had higher concentrations of nicotine in their lungs, even when parents said they did not smoke in the home.
Researcher Dr. Koren says that this study is biochemical proof that cigarette smoke is associated with SIDS, which, in Canada, claims as many as four of every 1,000 newborns.
This is why the Bureau of Reproductive and Child Health of the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control has set up the Canadian Perinatal Surveillance System. This system is part of Health Canada's efforts to strengthen Canada's national health surveillance capacity.
Although the number of SIDS deaths continues to decrease in Canada, I take this opportunity to urge members of the public to stop smoking in order to improve their own and our children's quality of life.