Talk:Baby Tooth Survey

British/Australian program in Australia

The CSIRO conducted an equivalent of this program in Australia and it was used to inform both the Australian government's decision to ask the British to cease testing (and exposing Australians to fallout) and the British decision to participate in the atmospheric test ban treaty. The study showed repeated, high levels of exposure to children in Adelaide, after the tests at Maralinga, and even higher levels of exposure across the country when the atmospheric hydrogen bombs were tested. There was a substantial documentary on ABC about it, around a decade ago, and it probably warrants not only it's own article, but a section in this one. It also mentioned that the Soviets conducted their own program, and it was what scared them into proposing the ban.--Senor Freebie (talk) 14:49, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion

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• St. Louis Baby Tooth Study.png

You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 12:37, 25 February 2022 (UTC) ++ The logo is NOT protected copywrite. You can tell (if you are trained in such matters) because it does NOT have the © symblol. This is from a letter ADDRESSED TO ME. Plaese don't wreck my work again. Tiptopper (talk) 16:55, 26 February 2022 (UTC)

This made me really sad. How can we get this picture back again? Can we not have nontrivial logotypes at all in wikipedia, or is there some kind of "loophole"? If you photograph the your letter, does that photo count as copyright infringement? :C · · · Omnissiahs hierophant (talk) 19:28, 28 April 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: HIST 121- U.S. History since 1877

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 3 February 2025 and 23 May 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): That One Guy20, Happy-DBR (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Philip2511, BlueAstronaut.

— Assignment last updated by Public-historian-90 (talk) 15:48, 2 April 2025 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: HIST 121- U.S. History since 1877

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 23 August 2025 and 11 December 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Oboewan23, Gmaugie-03 (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Living-together365, SD-GOAT2001.

— Assignment last updated by Jannat Fatimaaa (talk) 20:39, 1 December 2025 (UTC)

We are making the following edits:

New paragraph to background section

Logan, Yvonne (1964-10-01). "The Story of the Baby Tooth Survey". Scientist and Citizen. 6 (9–10): 38–39. doi:10.1080/21551278.1964.10114724.

Ritter, Luke (2018). "Mothers against the Bomb: The Baby Tooth Survey and the Nuclear Test Ban Movement in St. Louis, 1954-1969". Missouri Historical Review. 112 (2): 107–138.

Adding results section

Krasner, William (2013-03-01). "Baby Tooth Survey – First Results". Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development. 55 (2): 18–24. doi:10.1080/00139157.2013.765314. ISSN 0013-9157.

Remove repeated citation

Hevesi, Dennis. "Dr. Louise Reiss, Who Helped Ban Atomic Testing, Dies at 90", The New York Times, January 10, 2011. Accessed January 10, 2011.

Reword Section

On the other hand, the survey was a good example of public participation in science. It allowed people to help by sending in baby teeth to see how nuclear testing affected radiation levels.

Add in more detail on location and dates

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician who helped expose the Flint Water Crisis, has been promoting a similar study to track lead levels in the local children. Per the news coverage, "She expects the forthcoming report to include information on the initial results of brain assessments of children exposed to Flint water and early results of testing baby teeth of Flint children to measure their exposure to lead."

Fix grammatical error

In early 1970s Herbert Needleman used baby teeth in the same way that Barry Commoner did but for testing lead levels instead of strontium-90.

Add in detail on dates

These results were then shared with President John F. Kennedy. Upon seeing the results of the St. Louis Baby Tooth Survey, Kennedy signed the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty to end above ground nuclear testing.

Add in a citation to paragraph

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.

Move part of sentence to beginning of paragraph

The inception of the project took place in December 1958, continuing for 12 years, eventually ending in 1970.

Reword paragraph

According to Irish scientist Kathleen Lonsdale, in the mid-1950s it was known that strontium-90 is taken up particularly easily by children, that it causes bone tumors, and that, according to the British and American official reports, "some children in both countries have already accumulated a measurable amount of radioactive strontium in their bodies."

Fix grammatical errors

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission reports that these finding are seriously flawed and that the Radiation and Public Health Project has not followed good scientific practice in the conducting of these studies, in particular confusing correlation for causation and incorrectly conflating risk from nuclear weapon testing fallout with radiation from nuclear power plants.

Add date

The results of the Baby Tooth Survey found that strontium-90 levels in deciduous teeth had almost tripled since the start of nuclear testing. Oboewan23 (talk) 20:10, 1 December 2025 (UTC)