WTNH News Channel 8 / News / 1999

	The Tooth Fairy Comes to Connecticut (Waterford-WTNH) _ Waterford resident Susan Penny Luxton kept the baby teeth her 9 and ten year old sons lost to give to the tooth fairy, actually the tooth fairy project, which will study baby teeth from children who live near nuclear power plants. Scientists will look for levels of strontium-90, a radioactive byproduct similar to calcium that bonds to teeth. Susan Penny-Luxton, Waterford: "It's just scary, you know, does it mean it's effecting our children's health?" The Radiation and Health Project says grinding down and testing thousands of baby teeth is the only way they can prove the radiation-cancer connection. Susan Penny-Luxton lives near Northeast Utilities' Millstone nuclear plants. Penny-Luxton: "No matter what they say about low levels, I think low levels are harmful. There isn't a safe level." But Millstone representatives say they found levels of strontium-90 more than 20 years ago, before their plants even started operating. Terrence McIntosh, Millstone Power Station: "We don't believe this is a concern. We certainly do not think strontium-90 that could be detected comes from nuclear power plants." Those involved in the Radiation and Public Health Project say they really need baby teeth from Connecticut to study. They're concerned that a cancer cluster in Orient Point, 11 miles across the Long Island Sound, could be a result of Millstone. But some doctors say, although you need to be careful about any exposure to radiation, folks who live near power plants should not be alarmed. Dr. Jack VanHoff, Yale-New Haven Hospital: "In comparison to the risks we're exposed to every day it is essentially a trivial risk." People who live in the area will be getting letters signed by actor Alec Baldwin who has been active in cancer research since his mother's diagnosis with the disease. Today's News Page. WTNH Home Page. ©1999 WTNH/WTNH-DT A LIN station.

The Tooth Fairy Comes to Connecticut
(Waterford-WTNH) _ Waterford resident Susan Penny Luxton kept the baby teeth her 9 and ten year old sons lost to give to the tooth fairy, actually the tooth fairy project, which will study baby teeth from children who live near nuclear power plants.

Scientists will look for levels of strontium-90, a radioactive byproduct similar to calcium that bonds to teeth.

Susan Penny-Luxton, Waterford: "It's just scary, you know, does it mean it's effecting our children's health?"

The Radiation and Health Project says grinding down and testing thousands of baby teeth is the only way they can prove the radiation-cancer connection. Susan Penny-Luxton lives near Northeast Utilities' Millstone nuclear plants.

Penny-Luxton: "No matter what they say about low levels, I think low levels are harmful. There isn't a safe level."

But Millstone representatives say they found levels of strontium-90 more than 20 years ago, before their plants even started operating.

Terrence McIntosh, Millstone Power Station: "We don't believe this is a concern. We certainly do not think strontium-90 that could be detected comes from nuclear power plants."

Those involved in the Radiation and Public Health Project say they really need baby teeth from Connecticut to study. They're concerned that a cancer cluster in Orient Point, 11 miles across the Long Island Sound, could be a result of Millstone.

But some doctors say, although you need to be careful about any exposure to radiation, folks who live near power plants should not be alarmed.

Dr. Jack VanHoff, Yale-New Haven Hospital: "In comparison to the risks we're exposed to every day it is essentially a trivial risk."

People who live in the area will be getting letters signed by actor Alec Baldwin who has been active in cancer research since his mother's diagnosis with the disease.

Today's News Page.

WTNH Home Page.