The Cold War - The Nature of Risk | 4
American History Tellers
The AEC and the Committee for Nuclear Information
After the Bravo test debacle number of third world leaders began calling for a nuclear test ban. AEC officials like straws consistently argued that fallout wasn't dangerous on the other side an increasing number of scientists and doctors argued that radioactive isotopes associated with fallout Could cause mutations cancers and especially childhood leukemias Once incorporated into the body isotopes like strontium become internal emitters radiating the body from the inside. The baby tooth study was groundbreaking For the first time the public had successfully broken through the aec's monopoly as the most reasonable voice on nuclear information. It was a study run by housewives and pediatricians the baby tooth survey mainstreamed the suspicion of the aec.
