US FR CDC Meeting on Hanford Thyroid Discease Study Report

[Mike Grissom <mikeg@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>]

radsafe'rs,

The following announcement was in yesterday's U.S.
Federal Register (extract of):

----------
Federal Register: January 19, 1999 (Volume 64,
 Number 11).
...
  Page: 2903

      CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
        DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

      Hanford Thyroid Disease Study Draft Report

The National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) of
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
announces the following public meeting.

Name: Release of Hanford Thyroid Disease Study
      Draft Report

Time and Date: 7 p.m.-9 p.m., January 28, 1999.

Place: Doubletree Hotel, 802 George Washington
       Way, Richland, Washington 99352. Telephone
       509/946-7611, fax 509/943-8564.

Status: Open to the public, limited only by the
        space available. The meeting room will
        accommodate approximately 200 people.

Purpose:

Investigators from Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center (FHCRC) and the CDC will present
findings to the media and general public from the
Hanford Thyroid Disease Study Draft Report. The
purpose of the study was to determine if there was an
increased risk for thyroid disease among a randomly
selected study population that was exposed to
atmospheric releases of radioactive iodine-131 from
the Hanford Nuclear Site in eastern Washington State
during the 1940s and 1950s. The study, mandated by
Congress, was conducted by a team of scientists at the
FHCRC under contract from the CDC.

Background:

In 1986, Freedom of Information Act requests led the
Department of Energy to make public thousands of
pages of documentation indicating that large
quantities of radioactive materials were released into
the atmosphere from the Hanford Nuclear Site. The
radioactivity was a byproduct of nuclear weapons
production from December 1944 through 1957. Most of
the radioactivity was released in the form of
iodine-131 (I-131), which concentrates in the thyroid
glands of those who eat food contaminated by it. The
amount of I-131 released during this period was more
than half a million curies, prompting concern
regarding thyroid health effects. The government
convened a special Hanford Health Effects Review Panel
to review the documents and recommend steps to
evaluate possible health consequences among those who
live near the Hanford Site. Two studies were
undertaken as a result of these recommendations. The
first was the Hanford Environmental Dose
Reconstruction Project, which estimated potential
radiation doses to the thyroid among persons exposed
to Hanford I-131 releases. The second was the Hanford
Thyroid Disease Study. This study was designed to
determine whether the exposures from Hanford resulted
in an increased risk of thyroid disease in a randomly
selected study population. In late 1989, a contract to
perform this study was awarded to the FHCRC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  General information
may be obtained from Mr. Mike Donnelly, Project
Officer, Radiation Studies Branch (RSB), Division of
Environmental Hazards and Health Effects (DEHHE),
NCEH, CDC, 4770 Buford Highway, NE, (F-35), Atlanta,
Georgia 30341-3724. Telephone 770/488-7040,
fax 770/488-7044. Technical information may be
obtained from Dr. Paul Garbe, RSB. DEHHE, NCEH, CDC,
4770 Buford Highway, NE, (F-35), Atlanta, Georgia
30341-3724. Telephone 770/488-7040, fax 770/488-7044.

    The Director, Management Analysis and Services
Office, has been delegated the authority to sign
Federal Register notices pertaining to announcements
of meetings and other committee management activities,
for both CDC and ATSDR.

Dated: January 8, 1999.

Carolyn J. Russell,
Director, Management Analysis and Services Office,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
...
 
----------
Most US Federal Register documents can be readily
found using the GPO Web site at URL:

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html


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