Chornobyl Thyroid Cancers and Other Health Effects

["Vargo, George J" <vargo@pnl.gov>]

For a fairly current summary on the issue of child thyroid cancers, take a look
at Vargo, GJ (ed), The Chornobyl Accident - A Comprehensive Risk Assessment.
Columbus:  Battelle Press, 2000 (ISBN 1-57477-082-9).  Appendix B.  In a 1997
paper, Marvin Goldman projects the ultimate number of child thyroid cancer cases
to be between 3000 and 6000. ("The Russian radiation legacy".  Environmental
Health Perspectives 105:S6 1385-1391).  Two major factors drive the uncertainty
in the projection:  1) uncertainty in dosimetry since many doses were projected
on the basis of environmental Cs-137 contamination; 2) apparent difference in
dose-response that is likely the result of an iodine-deficient diet.

George J. Vargo, Ph.D., CHP
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
International Nuclear Safety Program
PO Box 999
902 Battelle Boulevard
Richland, WA  99352-0999
USA
509-375-6836; -2019 (fax)
vargo@pnl.gov
http://insp.pnl.gov:2080

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