Project Status

Baby teeth study to begin
By Robert Kelly
St Louis Post-Dispatch
Wednesday, May. 28 2008

Thousands of baby teeth, almost all collected from St. Louis-area residents in
the 1950s and 1960s, will finally be used in a comprehensive study aimed at
learning whether fallout from atomic bomb tests increased the cancer risk for
Americans born in those Cold War years.

The nonprofit Radiation and Public Health Project in New York announced last
week that a $15,000 donation from the Oregon Community Foundation of Portland,
Ore., would allow the yearlong study to begin. The rest of the nearly $37,000
project cost is being covered by other private contributors, project officials
said.
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Study uses baby teeth
to examine if atomic bomb tests raised cancer risk
By Betsy Taylor
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, May 29, 2008

ST. LOUIS (AP) _ Baby teeth collected in St. Louis in the 1950s and '60s to measure children's exposure to atomic bomb fallout will be used in a new study to try and gauge if Cold War bomb testing increased cancer risk.

The new study became possible after an estimated 85,000 baby teeth were discovered in storage in 2001. They were leftover contributions to the St. Louis Baby Tooth Survey, and about 300 of them will be tested as part of the new research.
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RPHP Bgins St. Louis Baby Teeth Folow-Up Study
Friday, May 23, 2008

RPHP has targeted funds to begin a follow-up health study of St. Louis children who donated baby teeth to a 1958-1970 study of atomic bomb test fallout in the body.

RPHP is very interested in pursuing this line of inquiry because it could make a substantial contribution to solving the largely-unanswered question "Did the atomic bomb tests in Nevada harm U.S. citizens?"

RPHP researchers will select a sample of the 85,000 baby teeth remaining from the study; locate current addresses for tooth donors, now mostly in their mid-40s; identify those who are deceased; and identify those who have survived cancer through health questionnaires.

Eventually, RPHP will determine if those St. Louis "Baby Boomers" who developed cancer and other diseases had higher radiation levels in their bodies than those who remained healthy. (This study became possible after the 2001 discovery of these teeth, which had been stored in a remote ammunition bunker for over 30 years.)