The Nation - News from Aug. 14, 1989

Philadelphia’s chief medical examiner has developed an ominous theory about the mysterious deaths of 10 babies, according to a published report. Pathologist Haresh Mirchandani said the children may have breathed in cocaine while it was being smoked by the adults around them. “I have no doubt it came from passive smoke inhalation, around the immediate vicinity of the infant,” he told the Philadelphia Inquirer. The medical examiner’s study included the cases of 10 children ranging in age from 28 days to 10 months who died in 1987, 1988 and 1989. All had cocaine or its chemical residue in their blood, tissue or organs. He said more research was needed to substantiate his theory but said the cases might mark the first time such a lethal phenomenon has been documented in the United States.