Alec Baldwin & the Tooth Fairy

["Schroeder, Gary L" <schroede@bnl.gov>]

I thought this would be of interest to those of you on Radsafe who follow
radiation risk perception issues.  Alec Baldwin has once again entered the
world of dubious scientific studies. The text below is arriving in mail
boxes across Long Island.
-------------------------------

Dear Parents,

I am writing you as someone personally concerned that our high cancer rates
may be influenced by radioactive reactor emissions in the greater New York
Metropolitan Area.

My wife, my daughter and I live on the East End of Long Island, New York,
which has officially been characterized as having the highest breast and
prostate cancer rates in the state. My mother, who also lives in Long
Island, is a breast cancer survivor.

Within a 10 mile radius of the federal Brookhaven National Laboratory, which
has been leaking radioactive waste into the Suffolk County drinking water
basin for years, there is an apparent cluster of a rare form of childhood
cancer, rhabdomyosarcoma. There are now 17 known cases of this disease.

I personally became involved with this issue after meeting the families,
whose children had contracted and in some cases died from this rare cancer
a cancer whose cause has been linked to radiation exposure.

These families are living at "ground zero" of America's cancer epidemic. For
them, the American dream has become a nightmare.

One hypothesis is that these high cancer rates may be largely caused by
radioactive leaks and emissions from nuclear reactors that surround the
greater New York Metropolitan Area. These reactors include Brookhaven
National Laboratory on Long Island, Indian Point in New York. Millstone in
Connecticut, and Oyster Creek in New Jersey. (See the enclosed map and data
on breast cancer rates).

The breast cancer death rates around these reactors are among the highest in
the nation. The U.S. Center for Disease control has independently confirmed
the existence of a "cancer cluster" in the Oyster Creek, New Jersey, area.

To document a possible radiation/cancer connection, we need only one or two
of the baby teeth that your children lose between the ages of five and
twelve. We are collecting baby teeth as part of a national, scientific study
to measure the levels of radiation, especially radioactive strontium-90, in
those teeth.

I ask you to support this "Tooth Fairy Project" by donating your children's
baby teeth. Please act now. The health and safety of your families is in
your hands.

To simply the process of tooth collection, we have a Special Mailing
Envelope. See the enclosed yellow flyer for mailing instructions and
information on the Baby Teeth Study, which is being conducted by the
non-profit Radiation and Public Health Project (RPHP).

For additional baby teeth envelopes for your friends and neighbors, or for
more information, call RPHP toll free at 1-800-582-3716. Or, you can visit
the RPHP web site at: http://www.radiation.org

This web site also has an interview about attorney Jan Schlichtmann, the
subject of A Civil Action, a national bestseller about Jan's heroic battle
to defend Massachusetts families afflicted by a cancer cluster. The book has
been made into a movie starring John Travolta. I hope you and your friends
will see this important film.

A Civil Action dramatically shows that successful litigation - to compensate
families afflicted by environmental toxins - requires physical evidence as
clinical proof that dangerous toxins have indeed entered the bodies of the
families affected by cancer.

The main purpose of the Baby Teeth Study is to document the levels in our
children's bodies of strontium-90. a man-made, radioactive, cancer-causing
toxin  which once ingested is adsorbed into the bone and remains in the body
for life.

If the Baby Teeth Study finds that the overall levels of radiation in our
children's bodies are too high  and are therefore a possible contributor to
our national cancer epidemic and other childhood diseases  then we will have
the same kind of evidence that moved President John F. Kennedy to terminate
above-ground testing of nuclear weapons in 1963, when a significant increase
was found in strontium-90 levels in children's teeth.

With compelling evidence of a radiation/cancer connection, we would call for
a national dialogue on radiation and public health, much like the debate
that has taken place on the tobacco issue.

I know that cancer - especially children's cancer - is an overwhelming issue
to confront. Yet, we have already spent $25 billion on a "War on Cancer"
without any significant decline in America's cancer rates. It is only though
public education, supported by solid scientific research, that we will be
able to create a safe environment and healthy future for our children ...and
for future generations.

Thank you for supporting the "Tooth Fairy Project."

Yours Sincerely,
Alec Baldwin

Gary Schroeder
Environmental Services Division
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Schroede@bnl.gov

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