[ RadSafe ] Thyroid Cancers and Reactors

[Dan W McCarn]

Hello Group:

As some of you know, I spent 1995-1996 working with the Sosny Labs in Minsk
on a Chernobyl project and attended the 10th Anniversary Chernobyl meetings
in Minsk and in Vienna.  As Leo Lowe pointed-out, there was a distinct link
between thyroid cancer and Chernobyl, but I would like to make some
observations about that link.  I'm going on memory for most of this... and
remember, I'm just a geologist...

1) The diagnostic criteria were significantly more aggressive than used in
the west. Thyroid tumors were diagnosed if any palpable mass was detected,
and following surgery, the tumors were not frequently subjected to a
pathologic examination. They were "presumed" to be thyroid cancer. As one
researcher from the UK explained to me, many of these "tumors" were of a
nature that, in the west, they would have been observed for a year or more
before a decision was made to remove them or allow them to remain.

2) The recovery rate for those patients was very high. I understand that
thyroid cancer is one of more easily treatable cancers.

3) At the time of the 10th Anniversary meetings, there was not much evidence
of elevated rates of other types of cancer.

I would appreciate it greatly if someone would update these observations for
me.

Finally, I would like to comment on the findings of a Russian paper from St.
Petersburg. I wish I could quote the date & authors (it's in storage) but it
was given to me by my old "boss" from the IAEA, Alexander Nechaev, now at
the St. Petersburg State Institute of Technology.  The findings focused on
all causes of illness and death and compared the group remaining at the edge
of the 30 km exclusion zone and a similar group that was removed from the
area and settled significant distances from the zone.  The findings at that
time indicated that the group that was removed suffered a 7 year loss of
life expectancy compared to those who remained near the zone.  Increased
risk factors compared to the group that remained near the zone included
suicide, drug/alcohol abuse, diabetes, heart disease and stroke.  These, of
course, are all stress-related diseases...

I would welcome all comments on these observations...

Best, 

Dan ii

--
Dan W McCarn, Geologist
2867 A Fuego Sagrado
Santa Fe, NM 87505
+1-505-310-3922 (Mobile - New Mexico)
HotGreenChile at gmail.com (Private email)

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf
Of Maury Siskel
Sent: Saturday, February 06, 2010 17:27
To: Leo M. Lowe
Cc: radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Thyroid Cancers and Reactors

Hi Leo,
Fair except Chernobyl was an explosion rather than an emission ... <g>
Best
Maury&Dog
==================

Leo M. Lowe wrote:

> Hello,
>
> The question was asked "Can anyone  show a cause and effect 
> relationship between reactor emissions and thyroid cancer?  (No fair 
> citing Mangano, Bertell, Sternglass, etc., etc.)"
>
> Although clearly not related to chronic emissions from emissions under 
> normal circumstances, a link between emissions from the Chernobyl 
> accident and thyroid cancers has been clearly demonstrated.
>
> L Lowe
>
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