RADIATION AND HEALTH SEMINAR

["Michael C. Baker" <mcbaker@lanl.gov>]

Forwarded for your information.... Mike Baker....mcbaker@lanl.gov


>On behalf of
> 
>ONE IN NINE BREAST CANCER ACTION COALITION
>
>RADIATION AND PUBLIC HEALTH PROJECT (RPHP)
> 
>STAR  (STANDING FOR TRUTH ABOUT RADIATION)
>
>Cordially invites you to
>
>A discussion of the baby tooth study and cancer rates on Long Island 
>
>RADIATION AND HEALTH SEMINAR
>
>May 25, 1999
>7 p.m.
>Westhampton Performing Arts Center
>
>                        PROGRAM
>
>Ernest Sternglass, Ph.D., Co-Director,RPHP Baby Teeth Study, Professor 
>Emeritus, Radiological Physics, University of Pittsburgh Medical School.
>TOPIC: The baby teeth study past and present.
>
>Janette D. Sherman, M.D., Internal Medicine specialist,
>STAR Advisory Board, RPHP Research Associate.
>TOPIC: Nuclear radiation, chemical carcinogens and breast cancer
>
>Jan Schlictmann, Attorney at Law, STAR Board of Directors.
>TOPIC: Woburn, Massachusetts and Toms River, New Jersey contamination cases
>
>Dr. Minna Barrett, One in Nine Breast Cancer Action Coalition.
>TOPIC: Breast cancer on Long Island
>
>Alec Baldwin, Moderator, Board of Directors, STAR
>
>
>For information contact STAR FOUNDATION
>(516) 324-0655
>
>(Directions on back)
>
>
>Recently, Actor Alec Baldwin sent a letter to 15,000 families in New York
>and New Jersey asking them to donate their children’s baby teeth to the
>“Tooth Fairy Project” a national, scientific study of American’s exposure to
>radioactivity.  The study will measure levels of radioactive strontium-90 in
>the teeth of children.
>
>Why Study Baby Teeth?  The chemical structure of Sr-90 is so similar to that
>of calcium that the body deposits Sr-90 in the bones and teeth instead of
>calcium, continually emitting cancer-causing beta radiation. Most of the
>strontium in the baby teeth is transferred to the fetus from the mother
>during pregnancy. 
>
>By studying the discarded teeth of young children, we can identify where and
>when the babies were born, and where the mother lived while carrying.  As
>result, we can accurately determine when and where radioactivity was
>absorbed from the environment.
>
>Our Federal Government no longer measures strontium-90 uptake in baby teeth
>and, therefore does not track exposure from nuclear reactors and other
>radioactive sources.  As a result, the Radiation and Public Health Project
>(RPHP) has launched its own national study of the levels of radioactivity in
>American baby teeth.  This study will gather the necessary clinical evidence
>to determine whether nuclear reactors and Federal laboratories affect our
>public health and contribute to America's cancer epidemic.
>
>Study history: In 1958 dental associations in St. Louis, organized by Dr.
>Barry Commoner, concerned about increasing fallout from aboveground nuclear
>tests, independently began collecting baby teeth.  The goal of the effort
>was to ascertain strontium-90 levels and to investigate the impacts of
>fallout from aboveground bomb tests that had began in 1945.  More than
>60,000 teeth were collected in St. Louis showing that by 1965 levels
>increased fifty-fold increase in strontium levels from 1951. 
>
>In the 1970s, Sr-90 levels in baby teeth dropped back down to about the same
>level reached in the US by 1958. Studies published by researchers in both
>Denmark and Japan were continued until the early 1980s.  These reveal that
>sometime in the mid-1970s the strontium-90 levels in teeth leveled out,
>followed by a slight upturn. 
>
>Unfortunately, a current study of some 6,000 baby teeth collected, in
>Germany since 1992 by the German Section of the International Physicians for
>the Prevention of Nuclear War--winner of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize
>Award--found the trend has changed.  The analysis found a tenfold increase
>in Sr-90 levels in children born in the period following the arrival of
>Chernobyl fallout in May of 1986, as compared with children born in 1983,
>before the Chernobyl fallout.
>
>Co-Sponsors:
>NEW YORK PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP
>SEARCH (Seeking Answers for Rhabdomyosarcoma Children)
>
>Directions:
>Sunrise Hwy. To Exit 63S (Westhampton Beach) County Road 31- 
>At 3rd light, continue straight & follow signs to Beach & business district.
>Immediately after St. Marks Church, make a left onto Main Street ­ 
>Theater is at 76 North Main; Municipal parking available directly across
>from the theater
>Scott Cullen
>Counsel
>STAR (Standing for Truth About Radiation)
>P.O. Box 4206 
>East Hampton, NY 11937
>(516) 324-0655
>fax: 516 324-2203
>scott@noradiation.org
>www.noradiation.org
>
>
>
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