Thyroid Cancer from Nuclear Tests

[Andy Hull <hull@mail.sep.bnl.gov>]

Since I have not seen  any mention of this item on Radsafe during the past
few days, I am posting the gist of an article on "Cancers From Nuclear
Tests Are Seen as Too Hard to Trace" which appeared in the National news
section of the New York Times.  By Matthew Wald (a Times reporter whose
beat includes nuclear issues). If you have forgotten, about a year ago, the
National Cancer Institute released a study which predicted that 10,000 to
75,000 extra thyroid cancers occurred as a result of the ingestion of
deposited I-131 Produced by atmospheric tests during the 1950s at the
Nevada test site. The NCI study received wide media coverage and occasioned
a thread on Radsafe at the time.

According to Wald, subsequent to the publication of the NCI studyt, "some
health advocates sought screening of people who grew up downwind from the
nuclear tests. But the report today (the IOM report) said that widespread
screening would probably result in many 'false positive' readings and that
many healthy  thyroids would be removed as a result". 

Wald also indicated that "The chairman of he panel (whom he did not name)
characterized the conclusions of their (the IOM's) report as 'somewhat
unsettling" because they found contradictory things: 'first, that some
people (who cannot be easily identified) were likely exposed to sufficient
iodine-131 to raise their risk of thyroid cancer and,second, there is no
evidence that programs to screen for thyroid cancer are beneficial in
detecting disease at a stage that would allow more effective treatment".

Andy Hull
EHSS Bldg 51
BNL
Upton NY 111973

Ph.  516-344-4210
Fax  516-344-3105
e-mail:  hull@mail.sep.bnl.gov
   

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