The baby teeth survived through a series of miracles
We published the blog titled “Harvard Scientists Persist Despite Administration Pressure”.After that, there was a follow-up, and at the time of the nationwide film release in the US, we received a message from Mr. Mangano.
The film “Silent Fallout” tells the miraculous story made possible by these “baby teeth,” and it turns out that those teeth themselves truly survived and were discovered in a miraculous way.
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(From the blog post)
Why were baby teeth from St. Louis stored at Harvard University?
Joseph James Mangano, Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project (RPHP), well known from the film, spoke about this in an interview with the director:
“One day, while I was working in my office, I received a call from Daniel Cole, a biology professor at Washington University in St. Louis.
He said, ‘I went to look in the university warehouse and found baby teeth.’
I had believed that all 320,000 teeth had been used for testing. But we learned that 101,000 of them had not been used. To test the teeth, they must be ground into powder and placed into liquid—you have to destroy them. And yet, these were found intact.
He asked, ‘Do you want them? Washington University doesn’t need them.’
That’s how they were donated from Washington University to the RPHP. I felt it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Following this story, I sent a question through my team in the US who were in contact with Mr. Mangano.
Q: To measure radioactive substances in teeth, baby teeth must be crushed. Why were some not tested and instead stored in a warehouse? And how were they discovered there?
A (Mr. Mangano): After the “Baby Tooth Study” ended in 1973, Washington University kept the baby teeth that had not been tested for Strontium-90. They were stored in a bunker that had been used as a munitions depot during World War II, located in Tyson Valley, about 20 miles from downtown St. Louis.
A group of university staff discovered these teeth by chance while searching for new storage space. Each tooth was placed in an envelope, which was attached to a 3×5-inch card containing data about the tooth and the child it came from. These teeth were later donated to the Radiation and Public Health Project.
The accidentally discovered baby teeth were once at risk of being lost in a fire
Q: I understand that the baby teeth faced trouble even after that. What happened?
A: On January 6, 1968, a fire broke out in a building at 5144 Delmar Boulevard in St. Louis. This building housed the offices of the Greater St. Louis Committee for Nuclear Information. Before being sent to laboratories for Strontium-90 testing, the baby teeth were stored there. Fortunately, because the fire occurred on a freezing cold night, not many of the teeth were lost.
The baby teeth that escaped the fire
The teeth also faced the danger of being destroyed in that fire, but fortunately, because it was winter, the flames did not spread as much. If the fire had occurred in spring, summer, or autumn, this film might never have been made. Through a chain of fortunate connections—like a bucket brigade of people—the story eventually reached the world through the film “Silent Fallout.”
Written by Kumi Murata
