Baby teeth left from historic study now part of new study

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Harvard researchers studying how early-life exposures are relevant to lifelong health will examine baby teeth left over from a famous Cold War-era study in St. Louis.

The Baby Tooth Survey measured radioactive fallout in about 320,000 donated teeth.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Harvard University neuroscientist and epidemiologist Marc Weisskopf is leading the new study, which will will look at how metals contribute to cognitive decline in older age.

The first study decades ago helped speed approval of a 1963 treaty that barred nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, outer space and under water.