The formation of STAR (Standing for the Truth About Radiation) arose out of findings from the files of the National Cancer Institute that Suffolk County, in which the Brookhaven National Lab reactors had been operating since 1950, has since registered a 40 percent increase in its age-adjusted breast cancer mortality rate as against a comparable one percent increase for the nation as a whole. Brookhaven asserts that its releases of radioactive strontium, known to affect the immune response, have been too small to be responsible, but this assertion can be tested by a study of strontium-90 levels in baby teeth of children living near the Brookhaven reactors and elsewhere.

STAR is therefore supporting the efforts of the non-profit Radiation and Public Health Project (PO Box 60, Unionville, NY 10988) to collect otherwise discarded baby teeth, identified by name, phone, address and date and place of birth. We can analyze varying levels of strontium-90 in baby teeth associated with all large-scale reactor releases anywhere in the U.S.

We are replicating the first such study conducted 40 years ago by dentists in St. Louis who found a twenty-fold increase in the strontium-90 associated with fallout from post-war above-ground nuclear tests, which led to their termination by President Kennedy in 1963. The German branch of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War - winner of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize - found a ten-fold increase in the strontium-90 content in the baby teeth of German children caused by Chernobyl fallout in southern Germany in 1986. We may also find a significant rise of strontium-90 in the teeth of American children born in 1986-87, since a significant deterioration has been found in U.S. mortality and morbidity indicators for those years. (Cf RPHP publication The Enemy Within: The High Cost of Living Near Nuclear Reactors, available by calling 1-800-626-4848). While official measures of strontium-90 in humans were terminated in 1970, since 1979 the U.S. percentage of underweight live births, highly correlated to strontium-90 levels in teeth, has been inexplicably rising. Pregnant women exposed to strontium-90 in the diet pass a heavy burden to the embryo, later reflected in the baby teeth.

The STAR study has been endorsed by the United Methodist Church, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and such noted scientists as John Gofman, Rosalie Bertell, Samuel Epstein and Barry Commoner. Elected officials in the New York metropolitan area such as Sen. D'Amato, Congressman Forbes, Public Advocate Mark Green and Borough President Ruth Messinger have expressed concerns about possible long term radioactive contamination of drinking water by the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Suffolk County, calling for the closing of the Brookhaven reactor, accused by even the DOE of "putting its neighbors at risk."

But the problem is national in scope and STAR is soliciting help from anyone no matter where you live. For instructions on sending us baby teeth call 1-800-582-3716.