Bombs and Baby Teeth: How St. Louisans Fought Nuclear Power

From 1958 to 1973, scientists at Washington University and citizens in St. Louis collected more than 320,000 baby teeth and tested them for strontium-90, a radioactive isotope that’s only created during nuclear fission. The results showed those teeth contained abnormally high levels of radiation. Further studies helped spread the passage of a treaty outlawing all above-ground nuclear tests.

As aging nuclear power plants across the country continue to emit dangerous isotopes—including Sr-90—into the environment, more recent tooth-collection efforts have found that children born near nuclear reactors in the 1980s and 1990s have higher rates of cancer. Meanwhile, new technology has enabled more accurate testing of teeth collected decades ago in St. Louis so that scientists can determine if those donors’ later-life health outcomes were affected by nuclear weapons testing.

Joseph A. Mangano’s Bombs and Baby Teeth: How St. Louisans Fought Nuclear Power tells the story of this landmark in citizen-scientist collaboration, which saved countless lives around the world and is increasingly relevant today.

Paperback | 256 pages | 37 halftones