[ RadSafe ] New evidence on thyroid cncer incidence near New York’s nuclear power station

[Roger Helbig]

Joseph Mangano strikes again -

Roger Helbig

Christina MacPherson posted: "Is This Nuclear Plant to Blame for
Soaring Thyroid Cancer Rates in New York?
https://www.ecowatch.com/indian-point-thyroid-cancer-2515063468.html,
By Joseph Mangano, 5 Dec 17, In the late 1970s, the rate of new
thyroid cancer cases in four counties"

New evidence on thyroid cncer incidence near New York’s nuclear power station

by Christina MacPherson

Is This Nuclear Plant to Blame for Soaring Thyroid Cancer Rates in New
York? https://www.ecowatch.com/indian-point-thyroid-cancer-2515063468.html,
By Joseph Mangano, 5 Dec 17,

In the late 1970s, the rate of new thyroid cancer cases in four
counties just north of New York City—Westchester, Rockland, Orange and
Putnam counties—was 22 percent below the U.S. rate. Today, it has
soared to 53 percent above the national rate. New cases jumped from 51
to 412 per year. Large increases in thyroid cancer occurred for both
males and females in each county.

That’s according to a new study I co-authored which was published in
the Journal of Environmental Protection and presented at Columbia
University.

This change may be a result of airborne emissions of radioactive
iodine from the Indian Point nuclear power plant, which is located at
the crossroads of those four counties and has been operating since the
mid-’70s.Exposure to radioactivity is the only known cause of thyroid
cancer. Indian Point routinely releases more than 100 radioactive
chemicals into the environment. These chemicals enter human bodies
through breathing and the food chain, harming and killing healthy
cells. One of these chemicals is radioactive iodine, which attacks and
kills cells in the thyroid gland, raising the risk of cancer.

The new study calls for much more research on thyroid cancer patterns.
According to the New York State cancer registry, the 1976-81
four-county thyroid cancer rate was 22 percent below the U.S. rate.
Since then, thyroid cancer has increased across the U.S., but the
local increase was much greater—rising to 53 percent above the U.S.
rate from 2000-2014. That’s statistically significant.

“The statistical aberration of increased cancer rates should be a
concern to us all,” said Peter Schwartz, a Rockland County businessman
diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 1986. “After Fukushima, it finally
occurred to me that my thyroid cancer was connected to Indian Point.”

“I am concerned that radiation may have contributed to thyroid cancer
in my family,” says Joanne DeVito, who spoke at the Columbia
University event. She was diagnosed with the condition, as were each
of her three daughters. “Our family has no history of thyroid disease,
and doctors are at a loss to explain why this happened,” said DeVito.
She now lives in Connecticut, but for many years lived close to Indian
Point.

Little is known about thyroid cancer causes. Risk factors according to
the Mayo Clinic include being female, genetic syndromes and exposure
to ionizing radiation. Earlier studies found high rates of thyroid
cancer in those treated with head and neck irradiation (which ceased
in the 1950s), survivors of the 1945 Hiroshima/Nagasaki atomic bombs,
and the 1986 Chernobyl and 2011 Fukushima reactor meltdowns.

A 1999 National Cancer Institute study concluded that as many as
212,000 Americans developed thyroid cancer from the above-ground
nuclear weapons tests in Nevada. Radiation exposures from those test
were considered low-dose. Above-ground testing was banned in a 1963
treaty.

>From 1980 to 2014, the U.S. thyroid cancer incidence rate more than
tripled for all ages, races and genders. Most scientific articles in
the professional literature concluded that improved diagnosis cannot
be the sole reason.

In a recent study in the journal Laryngoscope, researchers at Hershey
Medical Center found local residents near the Three Mile Island plant
diagnosed with thyroid cancer after the 1979 partial meltdown had a
significantly lower proportion of the BRAFV600 mutation, which is not
associated with radiation-induced thyroid cancer, compared to cases
diagnosed before the accident and many years afterwards. The authors
suggested the meltdown could have contributed to the disease.

Indian Point is located in Buchanan, New York, in northwest
Westchester County. Its two functioning reactors began operating in
1973 and 1976. An agreement to close the plant by 2021 between Entergy
(which owns and operates the plant) and New York State was reached in
January of this year.

Joseph Mangano is the executive director of the Radiation and Public
Health Project.

Christina MacPherson | December 6, 2017 at 10:37 am | Categories:
health, USA | URL: https://wp.me/phgse-yBW