• Name: Simon Wilson
• Age: 60-something
• Job: Senior writer
• Location: Herald newsroom, Auckland
Number of years as a journalist:
32
The best story I've worked on, and why:
Exposing the theory that poisonous gas in mattresses was responsible for sudden infant death syndrome (cot death). In the 1990s I was editor of Consumer magazine, during a time when the renowned chemist Dr Jim Sprott promoted a theory that baby mattresses should be wrapped in plastic to avoid babies dying on them. He was widely accepted by the media as an authority on the subject and he sold his own brand of wrapped mattresses. But he was wrong, and he caused unnecessary anguish to many parents, because he effectively blamed them for their babies' deaths. We researched in great depth and published an expose of the lack of science behind his claims. As a result, Sprott and his theory faded from the public eye. I'm very proud of having helped stop a man who was causing pain to extremely vulnerable people.
