Tooth Fairy Project- Nukes via drinking water cause childhood cancers

[Norman Cohen <ncohen12@comcast.net>]

Press Release Contact: Lisa Palley, (305) 642-3132

April 9, 2003, 11:00 A.M. Jerry Brown, Ph.D., (305) 321-5612 (cell)

For Immediate Release Ernest Sternglass, Ph.D., (305) 321-5612



Childhood Cancer in South Florida



Study Finds Cause in Nuclear Plant Radiation Emissions 

Drinking Water Most Likely Source



Miami, Florida  A South Florida Baby Teeth and Cancer Case Study, that 

was officially released today, finds that infants and children are 

especially vulnerable to cancer caused by federally-permitted radiation 

releases from nuclear reactors, such as the Turkey Point and St. Lucie 

nuclear power plants, located in southeast Florida.



The five-year baby teeth study, also known as the Tooth Fairy Project, 

found a 37% rise in the average levels of radioactive Strontium-90 

(Sr-90) in southeast Florida baby teeth from the mid-1980s to the 

mid-1990s. When compared with baby teeth collected from 18 Florida 

counties, the highest levels of Sr-90 were found in the six southeast 

Florida counties closest to the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear 

reactors: Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian 

River.



The current rise of radiation levels in baby teeth in Florida and in the 

U.S. as a whole reverses a long-term downward trend in Sr-90 levels 

since the 1960s, after President Kennedy banned aboveground testing of 

nuclear weapons 1963, due to concerns about increasing childhood cancer 

and leukemia rates from fallout.



Radioactive Sr-90 is a known carcinogen, which is only produced by 

fission reactions in nuclear weapons or reactors. It enters the body 

along with chemically similar calcium, and is stored in bone and teeth, 

where it can be measured years later using well-established laboratory 

techniques.



Significantly, the study documented that the average levels of Sr-90 

found in the teeth of children diagnosed with cancer were nearly twice 

as high as those found in the teeth of children without cancer.



Dr. Ernest Sternglass, Professor Emeritus of Radiation Physics at the 

University of Pittsburgh Medical School and co-author of the study said 

that although radioactive emissions can enter the air, soil and diet, 

the most significant source of Sr-90 in southeast Florida childrens 

teeth is groundwater, the primary source of southeast Floridas public 

drinking supply. This is due to the areas high rainfall and shallow 

aquifer.









The study found the highest levels of radioactivity in samples of 

drinking water found within 20 miles of the Turkey Point (located south 

of Miami) and St. Lucie (located north of West Palm Beach) nuclear power 

plants, while levels of radioactivity were significantly lower in water 

samples further away from the reactors.



The rise in Sr-90 levels in both drinking water and baby teeth parallels 

a 32.5% rise in cancer rates in children under 10 in the southeast 

Florida counties, which are closest to the nuclear power plants. This 

compares with a average 10.8% rise in national childhood cancer rates 

from the early 1980s to the late 1990s.



The baby teeth study conclusions are consistent with the recent U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency admission that children age 2 and 

younger are 10 times more susceptible than adults to the cancer causing 

effects of toxic chemicals and radioactivity. According to the National 

Cancer Institutes SEER Cancer Statistics Review, from early 1970s to 

late 1990s, U.S. childhood cancer overall has increased by 26%, brain 

cancer by 50%, leukemia by 45% and bone cancer by 40%.



There is now substantial evidence that exposure to federally-permitted 

radiation releases from nuclear reactors is a significant cause of 

increasing childhood cancer rates in southeast Florida, as well as a 

risk factor for cancer in Americans of all ages, said Dr. Jerry Brown, 

the studys co-author and Founding Professor, Florida International 

University in Miami. Dr. Brown noted that, the recent 2003 

Recommendations of the European Committee on Radiation Risk found that 

the world-wide health effects of very low levels of radioactivity have 

been vastly underestimated.



In a Statement on Baby Teeth Study, Samuel Epstein, M.D., wrote, Given 

prior evidence of the relationship between childhood cancer and 

radioactive emissions from 103 aging nuclear power plants in the U.S., 

and the well established biological risks of radioactive Strontium-90, 

it is now critical to recognize that radioactive emissions from 

commercial nuclear power plants pose a grave threat to public health in 

southeast Florida and throughout the nation. Dr. Epstein is Professor 

Emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of 

Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, and Chairman, Cancer 

Prevention Coalition.



The study was conducted by the Radiation and Public Health Project 

(RPHP) and funded by the Health Foundation of South Florida. The 

Radiation and Pubic Health Project is an independent not-for-profit 

research organization, established by scientists and physicians to 

investigate the links between environmental radiation, cancer and public 

health.



The Health Foundation of South Florida, a not-for-profit grantmaking 

foundation, is dedicated to expanding access to affordable, quality 

health care and providing funding that directly benefits the health and 

well being of underserved individuals in Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe 

Counties. Since its inception in 1993, the Foundation has awarded more 

than $42 million in grants and direct program support.







Available for Interview at Press Conference



- Dr. Ernest Sternglass, Chief Scientist, RPHP; Professor Emeritus, 

Radiation Physics, University of Pittsburgh Medical School; co-Principal 

Investigator of the Report.



- Dr. Jerry Brown, Research Associate, RPHP; Founding Professor, Florida 

International University; co-Principal Investigator of the Report. 

(English and Spanish)



- Lilyana and Bill Sager (Lilly), Miami, Florida, daughter diagnosed 

with cancer submitted tooth to study. Ms. Sanger will discuss why she 

supports the baby teeth study, her reactions to findings, and her 

concerns over increasing cancer in the Cutler Ridge area of South 

Miami-Dade County (English and Spanish)



- Lee Klein, CEO, Children's Cancer Caring Center, founder of 

organization that provides free medical care to needy families of 

children with cancer in South Florida and throughout Latin America.



- Steven Marcus, President and CEO, and Peter Wood, Chief Program 

Officer, Health Foundation of South Florida, an independent not for 

profit organization benefiting community healthcare and education. The 

Health Foundation funded the South Florida Baby Teeth and Cancer Case 

Study.



- Barbara Garrett, Senior Vice President, Applica Inc., a Miami 

Lakes-company that has supported the national baby teeth study.





Available for interviews by phone:



- Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Environmental and 

Occupational Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of 

Public Health and Chairman, Cancer Prevention Coalition. Dr. Epstein has 

reviewed the Research Report and provided a written Statement on Baby 

Teeth Study



- Dr. Hari Sharma, President, Radiological and Environmental Measurement 

Systems, Waterloo, Canada. Dr. Sharma is an international expert in 

radiological measurements and manages the independent lab that tests the 

baby teeth.



- Debi Santoro, mother whos infant has nerve cancer and who has 

submitted tooth to study and had her water tested.



- Audra Malone-Schmidt, mother of child with cancer who submitted tooth 

to study.



- Dava Michaelson, mother and breast cancer survivor, who has submitted 

daughters tooth to the study.



-- 

Coalition for Peace and Justice and the UNPLUG Salem Campaign; 321 Barr Ave., Linwood, NJ 08221; 609-601-8583 or 609-601-8537;  ncohen12@comcast.net  UNPLUG SALEM WEBSITE:  http://www.unplugsalem.org/  COALITION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE WEBSITE:  http://www.coalitionforpeaceandjustice.org   The Coalition for Peace and Justice is a chapter of Peace Action.

"First they ignore you; Then they laugh at you; Then they fight you; Then you win. (Gandhi) "Why walk when you can fly?"  (Mary Chapin Carpenter)





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