Article Summary: 'Out of the mouths of babes'

Article: Out of the mouths of babes
Date: March 26th 2009
Publisher: The Economist
URL: http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13376113

The incidents of the past still play a big role in today’s society… more than we’d like in some cases. A research project that was conducted in the late 1950’s to early 1960’s tested thousands of baby teeth, collected in the St. Louis area, for the effects of radioactive fallout. Now, another project aims to, with the help of these baby teeth, study the link between radioactive exposure during childhood and health problems in later life.
The radioactive fallout that was being tested for in the 1950’s to 60’s came from the above ground nuclear tests that had been conducted in America and throughout the world. The experiment discovered that Strontium-90, a byproduct of these tests, was found in children’s teeth. The isotope had been ingested by cows, since it fell onto the land after the tests, therefore ‘contaminating’ the milk supply. The undisputable results were a major contributing factor to the creation of the 1963 Test Ban Treaty, which banned above ground nuclear testing.
Researchers today at the Radiation and Public Health Project, after having rediscovered 85,000 baby teeth (a quarter of the total amount of teeth collected), are trying to find more than 6,000 donors in order to monitor their health problems or premature deaths. Results could support already existing evidence that 1950’s children from the St. Louis area grew up to have a higher than average cancer rate.