Byrne plan to boost education on shaken baby syndrome

Date: 18/04/02

By Peter Chapman

THE EU plans to spearhead a new public health education programme later this year which will help raise awareness of the dangers of 'shaken baby syndrome'.

David Byrne, the health and consumer protection commissioner, said it, and other child abuse issues, would form a key part of the programme.

Although EU figures for shaken baby syndrome are not yet available, several member states have been carrying out studies on the subject since the high-profile 1998 trial of British au pair Louise Woodward in the US.

Woodward was found guilty of the involuntary manslaughter of eight-month-old Matthew Eappen after an initial verdict of murder was quashed.

A recent Swiss study showed that 4.4 of the admissions to paediatric surgeries due to child abuse were 'probably due' to frustrated parents shaking crying babies, whose neck muscles are too weak to resist the shock. US studies have shown that a quarter of shaken babies - typically aged around five months - die days to weeks after the event and of those surviving three-quarters suffer permanent damage.

Three-quarters of all cases involved men - and boys were more likely to be victims of shaken baby syndrome than girls. Half of the cases involved parents of the babies. Partners of mothers and baby-sitters accounted for 17 of cases.

MEPs, member states and the Commission are currently in dispute over the budget for the public health programme, proposed two years ago by Byrne's department. The Commission wants a €300 million budget, member states think this is too much, while MEPs are holding out for more.

The EU plans to spearhead a new public health education programme in 2002 which will help raise awareness of the dangers of 'shaken baby syndrome'.