Baby Tooth Survey

The Baby Tooth Survey was initiated by the Greater St. Louis Citizens' Committee for Nuclear Information in conjunction with Saint Louis University and the Washington University School of Dental Medicine as a means of determining the effects of nuclear fallout in the human anatomy by examining the levels of radioactive material absorbed into the deciduous teeth of children.

Founded by the husband and wife team of physicians Eric and Louise Reiss, along with other scientists such as Barry Commoner and Ursula Franklin, the research focused on detecting the presence of strontium-90, a cancer-causing radioactive isotope created by the more than 400 atomic tests conducted above ground that is absorbed from water and dairy products into the bones and teeth given its chemical similarity to calcium. The team sent collection forms to schools in the St. Louis area, hoping to gather 50,000 teeth each year.[1] The school-aged children were encouraged to mail in their newly lost baby teeth by colorful posters displayed in classrooms, and the reward of a colorful button.[2] Ultimately over 320,000 teeth were donated by children of various ages. The inception of the project took place in December 1958, continuing for 12 years, eventually ending in 1970.[3][4]

Preliminary results published by the team in the November 24, 1961, edition of the journal Science showed that levels of strontium-90 in children had risen steadily in children born in the 1950s, with those born later showing the most increased levels.[5][6] The results of a more comprehensive study of the elements found in the teeth collected showed that children born in 1963 had levels of strontium-90 in their baby teeth that were 50 times higher than those found in children born in 1950, before the advent of large-scale atomic testing. The findings helped convince U.S. President John F. Kennedy to sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the United Kingdom and Soviet Union, which ended the above-ground nuclear weapons testing that placed the greatest amounts of nuclear fallout into the atmosphere.[7]

  1. ^ Staff. "Teeth to Measure Fall-Out", The New York Times, March 18, 1969. Accessed January 10, 2011.
  2. ^ Tomich, Jeffrey. "Decades later, Baby Tooth Survey legacy lives on", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 1, 2013. Accessed February 11, 2018.
  3. ^ Gerl, Ellen (2014). "Scientist-citizen advocacy in the atomic age: A case study of the Baby Tooth Survey, 1958-1963" (PDF). PRism. 11 (1).
  4. ^ "Page 131". digital.shsmo.org. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  5. ^ Sullivan, Walter. "Babies Surveyed For Strontium 90; Ratio to Calcium in Bones Is Discovered to Be Low A survey has shown that pregnant mothers and their unborn children absorb radioactive strontium, as a substitute for calcium, only about 10 per cent of the time", The New York Times, November 25, 1961. Accessed January 10, 2011.
  6. ^ Reiss, L. Z. (24 November 1961). "Strontium-90 Absorption by Deciduous Teeth: Analysis of teeth provides a practicable method of monitoring strontium-90 uptake by human populations". Science. 134 (3491): 1669–1673. doi:10.1126/science.134.3491.1669. PMID 14491339.
  7. ^ Hevesi, Dennis. "Dr. Louise Reiss, Who Helped Ban Atomic Testing, Dies at 90", The New York Times, January 10, 2011. Accessed January 10, 2011.