What do baby teeth and nuclear weapons have in common?
As a child I participated in a radiation study known as Operation Tooth, conducted by Washington University in St. Louis in conjunction with St. Louis University, that collected baby teeth and analyzed them for the presence of a radioactive isotope produced by nuclear fission (like in nuclear bomb detonations) called strontium 90.
From 1951 to 1962 the United States conduced 100 above ground atmospheric nuclear weapons tests at a 680-square-mile (1,800 km) location near Las Vegas known as the Nevada Test Site.
The westerly prevailing wind patterns meant that the Midwest received some highest doses of strontium-90. Weather patterns meant St. Louis was in a direct line of the fallout clouds, making it one of the nation's hot spots for fallout.
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