EYELESS BABY

Press, Volume C, Issue 29643, 13 October 1961, Page 17

EYELESS BABY

Father Plans Legal Action

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) ROME, October 11. The father of an eyeless baby which died shortly after birth has instructed his lawyer to take action against all people who have “dragged him into the sad and scandalous episode,” according to the Communist Party newspaper “L’Unita.” The case- of the eyeless child, a boy, was first publicly mentioned last weekend in a Parliamentary report on the dangers of radio activity. This was submitted by Dr. Beniamino de Maria, a Christian Democratic Party member of Parliament, and a former High (Commissioner tor Health, the British United Press said. Dr. de Maria said in his report that the baby had been born deformed because its Italian mother had been exposed to an overdose of radiation during a visit to an atomic plant in a Communist country. He did not mention the mother's name on grounds of professional secrecy. However, at least two Rome newspapers have published what they said were the parents' names. The father and mother were doctors and the baby was bom in their own clinic in Rome last April after the parents had visited Russia, the papers said. “L’Unito” said today that the man mentioned by other newspapers as the father had confirmed the birth and death of an eyeless child to his wife. But he had denied that the mother was ever exposed to radiation or even visited an atomic plant during a trip they made to Russia last August. The newspaper quoted the father as saying his wife had not been told her baby was eyeless because it would have caused mental shock. She had only learned of it from newspapers. A number ot Italian medical men have criticised Dr de Maria’s theory that the baby's condition was caused by radiation. The president of the Federation of Medical Associations. Professor Raffaele Chiarolanza, sold: "One cannot express judgments of scientific value on an isolated event whose details are hardly definite." However. Dr. de Maria has insisted that his theory is correct. He said: "I would certainly not have founded my statements on uncertain information or on facts of which I had only an approximate knowledge.”