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38-482: Founded by the husband and wife team of physicians Eric and Louise Reiss , along with other scientists such as Barry Commoner and Ursula Franklin , the research focused on detecting the presence of strontium-90 , a cancer-causing radioactive isotope created by the more than 400 atomic tests conducted above ground that is absorbed from water and dairy products into the bones and teeth given its chemical similarity to calcium . The team sent collection forms to schools in

76-500: A myocardial infarction two months earlier. She was survived by her son, Eric Reiss , as well as by two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Herbert Needleman Herbert Leroy Needleman (December 13, 1927 – July 18, 2017) researched the neurodevelopmental damage caused by lead poisoning . He was a pediatrician , child psychiatrist , researcher and professor at the University of Pittsburgh , an elected member of

114-465: A biochemist at Johns Hopkins University , explained that to find out more about how the human body uptakes radioactive elements, research should be done on the elements present in a child's first set of teeth. A set of 85,000 teeth that had been uncovered in storage in 2001 by Washington University were given to the Radiation and Public Health Project . By tracking 3,000 individuals who had participated in

152-431: A child's attentiveness, behavior, and academic success. In 1979, Needleman began the first large-scale study of intelligence and behavior in children with no outward signs of lead poisoning. His research showed that lead exposure is associated with an increased risk for failure to graduate from high school and for reading disabilities. His research involved testing the concentration of lead in bones of 194 juveniles, between

190-644: A child. She originally planned to study art in college, but decided to switch to science after the outbreak of World War II. She earned her medical degree at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (now part of the Drexel University College of Medicine ) and performed her internship and residency at Philadelphia General Hospital , where she met her future husband, the physician Eric Reiss. The couple first moved to San Antonio, Texas , then relocated to St. Louis after Eric Reiss received an appointment at

228-559: A decade earlier. Her husband, Eric Reiss, testified before the United States Senate when it was considering ratification of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Later research showed that levels of strontium-90 in the cohort born in 1968, after the treaty had gone into effect, had declined by 50 percent. A resident of Pinecrest, Florida , Reiss died at the age of 90 at her home on January 1, 2011, after suffering

266-600: A lead-IQ relationship until "he got the results he wanted". The two charged Needleman through the National Institute of Health with scientific misconduct . Needleman says that the case against him was made by a law firm from Philadelphia who refused to name the company who was paying them, although he wrote that Ernhart received $ 375,000 over seven years from the International Lead Zinc Research Organization (ILZRO) . He says that against

304-499: A published graph that was slightly in error, and Needleman eventually published a correction". The lawsuit and subsequent inquiry remain controversial; according to philosopher of science Clark N. Glymour , "Scarr and Ernhart are sometimes dismissed as tools of the lead industry, but I know of no evidence that they were other than sincere." However, Glymour thinks that Scarr and Ernhart were wrong on their methodological findings. EPA scientist Joel Schwartz told Newsweek in 1991 that

342-518: A residency in psychiatry at Temple University Health Sciences Center, also in Philadelphia. From 1970 to 1972, he was an assistant professor of psychiatry at Temple University, and from 1972 to 1981, he was a professor at Harvard University Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts . From 1981, he was a professor of child psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine . In

380-716: The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to issue guidelines for the diagnosis and management of lead poisoning in children, in goading the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to mandate the removal of lead from gasoline , and in inducing the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban lead from interior paints. Needleman's research also helped cause the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to remove lead from thousands of housing units across

418-609: The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in order to determine whether human health impacts arising from radioactivity and heavy metal pollution downstream from gold mining activities, driven by acid mine drainage , was occurring. A number of related studies by the Radiation and Public Health Project assert that levels of radioactive strontium-90 (Sr-90) are rising in the environment and that these increased levels are responsible for increases in cancers, particularly cancers in children, and infant mortality. The group also made

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456-603: The Institute of Medicine , and the founder of the Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning (later known as the Alliance for Healthy Homes, it has since merged with the National Center for Healthy Housing ). Dr. Needleman played a key role in securing some of the most significant environmental health protections achieved during the 20th century, which resulted in a fivefold reduction in the prevalence of lead poisoning among children in

494-587: The Journal of the American Medical Association . The study found that delinquent children were four times more likely to have elevated concentrations of lead in their bones. According to Needleman, "Lead is a brain poison that interferes with the ability to restrain impulses. It's a life experience which gets into biology and increases a child's risk for doing bad things." After extensive scientific review, Needleman's findings were instrumental in convincing

532-538: The St. Louis area, hoping to gather 50,000 teeth each year. The school-aged children were encouraged to mail in their newly lost baby teeth by colorful posters displayed in classrooms, and the reward of a colorful button . Ultimately over 320,000 teeth were donated by children of various ages. The inception of the project took place in December 1958, continuing for 12 years, eventually ending in 1970. Preliminary results published by

570-787: The United States by the early 1990s. Despite engendering strong resistance from lead-related industries, which made him the target of frequent attacks, Needleman persisted in campaigning to educate stakeholders , including parents and government panels, about the dangers of lead poisoning. Needleman has been credited with having played a key role in triggering environmental safety measures that have reduced average blood lead levels by an estimated 78 percent between 1976 and 1991. He died in Pittsburgh in 2017. Needleman earned his BS from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1948, and his MD from

608-574: The University of Pennsylvania in 1952. He was Jewish . He trained in pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and served as Chief Resident. Needleman completed a fellowship in pediatric cardiology and rheumatic fever through the National Institutes of Health . After practicing family pediatrics in Philadelphia and neonatology at Pennsylvania Hospital , Dr. Needleman completed

646-478: The Washington University School of Dental Medicine as a means of determining the effects of nuclear fallout on the human anatomy. Louise Reiss led the project from 1959 to 1961. The research focused on detecting the presence of strontium-90, a cancer-causing radioactive isotope created by the more than 400 atomic tests conducted above ground before 1963. Due to its chemical similarity to calcium ,

684-587: The Washington University School of Medicine . Hired by the St. Louis city health department, Louise Reiss was involved in inoculating children with the polio vaccine . In 1959, Reiss and her husband joined environmental scientist Barry Commoner and others to create the Greater St. Louis Citizens' Committee for Nuclear Information, which initiated the Baby Tooth Survey in conjunction with Saint Louis University and

722-701: The multiple comparisons problem. In 1983, when the EPA was reviewing its air-quality standards, it rejected the results of both Needleman's and some of Ernhart's scientific work on the subject. Egged on by the Lead Industries Association (LIA), the EPA Science Advisory Board formed a six-member Expert Committee, including Sandra Scarr, that the LIA hoped would undermine Needleman. Needleman challenged this criticism and after giving him more money to reanalyze

760-523: The 1970s, Needleman conducted a study at Harvard Medical School that yielded strong evidence that lead, even at very low levels, can affect a child's IQ . By measuring levels of lead in children’s deciduous teeth , Needleman provided the first evidence that low level lead exposure at the time these teeth were formed not only reduces IQ levels, but also shortens attention spans and delays acquisition of language proficiency. In studies that followed, he determined that lead poisoning had long-term implications for

798-499: The Reiss home, where they were sorted. In all, some 320,000 teeth from children of various ages were collected before the project was ended in 1970. The results of the thousands of teeth analyzed, published in the November 24, 1961, issue of the journal Science , revealed elevated levels of radioactive compounds in the first sets of teeth that had been collected. President John F. Kennedy

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836-956: The US. Needleman designed the first forward study of lead exposure during gestation , and showed that such exposure is associated with cognitive deficits later in life. His most recent research has shown that boys with high levels of lead concentrated in their bones are more likely to develop aggressive or delinquent behavior, such as bullying , vandalism and shoplifting . In their book, Raising Children Toxic Free: How to Keep Your Child Safe from Lead, Asbestos, Pesticides, and Other Environmental Hazards (1996), Needleman and Philip J. Landrigan offer advice for parents and physicians on how to evaluate and minimize toxic exposure risks, which include lead, asbestos , pesticides , and other toxins. The authors also address practical means for ensuring community compliance with existing laws. While an associate professor at Temple University's School of Medicine, Needleman

874-471: The University of Virginia. Ernhart and Scarr gained access to the raw data for a day, after which they had to leave after a federal government lawyer attempted to have them sign a gagging order preventing them from discussing the data in public. Based on what she saw of the printouts, Scarr concluded that Needleman had discarded potentially significant explanatory variables after his first analysis failed to show

912-537: The advent of large-scale atomic testing. The findings helped convince U.S. President John F. Kennedy to sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the United Kingdom and Soviet Union , which ended the above-ground nuclear weapons testing that placed the greatest amounts of nuclear fallout into the atmosphere. According to Irish scientist Kathleen Lonsdale , in the mid-1950s or earlier it

950-484: The advent of widespread nuclear weapons testing . The findings helped convince U.S. President John F. Kennedy to sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the United Kingdom and Soviet Union , which ended the above-ground testing of nuclear weapons that placed the greatest amounts of nuclear fallout into the atmosphere. Born in the Queens borough of New York City on February 23, 1920, Reiss contracted polio as

988-530: The ages of twelve and eighteen, who had been convicted in the Allegheny County Juvenile Court, and 146 students in regular high schools in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who did not have behavioral problems. In 1996, findings from the research, reporting on the physical and behavioral problems caused by leaded gasoline and lead paint while linking lead exposure to anti-social behavior, were published in

1026-519: The claim that radioactive effluents from nuclear power plants are directly responsible for the increases in Sr-90. In one study, researchers reported that Sr-90 concentrations in baby teeth are higher in areas around nuclear power plants than in other areas. However, numerous peer-reviewed, scientific studies do not substantiate such claims. This has also sometimes been referred to as “The Tooth Fairy Project.” In early 1970s Herbert Needleman used baby teeth in

1064-532: The conducting of these studies, in particular confusing correlation for causation and incorrectly conflating risk from nuclear weapon testing fallout with radiation from nuclear power plants. The Baby Tooth Survey inspired a number of similar initiatives in other parts of the world. For example, what became known as the Tooth Fairy Project was developed in South Africa by Dr. Anthony Turton and his team at

1102-471: The data, the EPA reversed its position, and adopted his conclusions in 1986. In 1990, a Superfund (industrial pollution cleanup) case was brought against the owners of a defunct lead mill in Utah, where houses had been built on the land where the tailings had been deposited. The state hired Needleman as an expert witness, and the corporations in their defence turned to Ernhart and psychologist Sandra Scarr from

1140-441: The radioactive strontium isotope is absorbed from water and dairy products into the bones and teeth of children, as their growing bodies need calcium. Visiting local schools and organizations, Louise Reiss convinced parents to have their children send in their lost baby teeth, in return for which they were sent a button reading "I gave my tooth to science". The team sent collection forms to area schools, and teeth were initially sent to

1178-670: The same way that Barry Commoner did but for testing lead levels instead of strontium-90. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha , a pediatrician who helped expose the Flint Water Crisis , has been promoting a similar study to track lead levels in the local children. Per the news coverage, "She expects the forthcoming report to include information on the initial results of brain assessments of children exposed to Flint water and early results of testing baby teeth of Flint children to measure their exposure to lead." Louise Reiss Louise Marie Zibold Reiss (February 23, 1920 – January 1, 2011)

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1216-469: The team in the November 24, 1961, edition of the journal Science showed that levels of strontium-90 in children had risen steadily in children born in the 1950s, with those born later showing the most increased levels. The results of a more comprehensive study of the elements found in the teeth collected showed that children born in 1963 had levels of strontium-90 in their baby teeth that were 50 times higher than those found in children born in 1950, before

1254-535: The tooth-collection project, the RPHP published results that showed that the 12 children who later died of cancer before the age of 50 had levels of strontium-90 in their stored baby teeth that were twice the levels of those who were still alive at 50. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission reports that these finding are seriously flawed and that the Radiation and Public Health Project has not followed good scientific practice in

1292-426: The wishes of his university, he successfully fought to have his case held in public and was eventually exonerated. According to Scarr: "Eventually, Needleman was found guilty of misrepresentation and had to retract research reports in the journals that published them." However, no retractions were issued, only mild corrections. According to environmental psychology professor Colleen F. Moore, Scarr and Ernhart "found

1330-501: Was an American physician who coordinated what became known as the Baby Tooth Survey , in which deciduous teeth from children living in the St. Louis, Missouri , area who were born in the 1950s and 1960s were collected and analyzed over a period of 12 years. The results of the survey showed that children born in 1963 had levels of strontium-90 in their teeth that were 50 times higher than those found in children born in 1950, before

1368-496: Was known that strontium 90 is taken up particularly easily by children, that it causes bone tumors, and that "according to the British and American official reports, some children in both countries have already accumulated a measurable amount of radioactive strontium in their bodies." In an article published in 1958 in Nature , a British science and technology journal, Dr. Herman Kalckar ,

1406-531: Was made aware of the research results while he was negotiating a treaty with the United Kingdom and Soviet Union to place controls on nuclear testing. His call to the Reiss home was answered by her son; the person on the other end of the phone said, "This is John Kennedy, can I talk to your mom?" Further analysis by the team led to the conclusion that children born in 1963 had absorbed levels of strontium-90 that were 50 times higher than those found in children born

1444-937: Was the chairman of the Committee of Responsibility (COR), throughout its existence between 1966 and 1974. COR, which sought to help civilians injured in the Vietnam War , was composed of medical personnel, scientists, clergymen, and citizens concerned about American involvement. In its efforts to assist injured Vietnamese children shelters were set up in Berkeley, California and Boston, Massachusetts , both called Vietnam House, and another in Saigon , where paraplegic children could be cared for and rehabilitated in their own country. Needleman's scientific methodology had long been challenged by Dr. Claire Ernhart, who has criticized it as not adequately controlling for confounding variables, and being subject to

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