St. Louis pathologist Walter Bauer dies

ST. LOUIS -- Dr. Walter Bauer, a pathologist and leader in the famous baby tooth study that helped show the spread of nuclear fallout, has died. He was 82.

Bauer of St. Louis died Saturday after falling ill last month; he died of acute respiratory distress, his wife, Marcia Robbins Bauer, said Monday.

Bauer, along with renowned biologist and environmentalist Barry Commoner, was a founding member of a committee of St. Louis scientists and residents concerned about nuclear testing in the 1950s, following development of the atom bomb in World War II.

The Greater St. Louis Citizens Committee for Nuclear Information led the St. Louis Baby Tooth Survey from 1958 to 1970, which studied almost 300,000 baby teeth, searching for evidence of fallout from atomic and hydrogen bomb tests.

The study found that the teeth had absorbed nuclear material through children's consuming milk from cows that ate contaminated grass. The findings contributed to a ban on above-ground testing of atomic bombs in the early 1960s.

Other baby tooth surveys were formed and patterned after the St. Louis program elsewhere in the U.S. and overseas.

Commoner, who taught plant physiology at Washington University for more than 30 years, where he founded the Centre for the Biology of Natural Systems, said Bauer was a critical member of the committee, and as a well-known physician and community speaker, persuaded parents to have their children participate.

"There were a lot of us who believed fallout from nuclear tests had to stop," said Commoner, now 90. "It got a lot of publicity. President Johnson referred to [the survey]."

Commoner said the committee grew out of daily lunch meetings of Washington University scientists.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. today at Grace and Peace Fellowship.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by three daughters, a son and four grandchildren.