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A medical mystery: As overall cancer rates fall, why are thyroid cancer rates rising? Diagnoses of cancer in this gland in the neck are increasing about 6 percent a year, faster than cancers found anywhere else, according to one National Cancer Institute analysis. Researchers know one big reason: The many medical scans Americans have, for everything from neck pain to artery plaque, are turning up thousands of tiny thyroid tumors that otherwise might go undetected and often would do no harm. "We call them 'incidentalomas,' " says Amy Chen, a head and neck surgeon at Emory University in Atlanta and American Cancer Society researcher. But that's not the whole story. Two recent studies, including one co-written by Chen, show larger thyroid tumors are being found at an increasing rate, too. And those can't be explained by more aggressive diagnosis alone, researchers say. "There is something else going on" to contribute to the 37,000 cases of thyroid cancer expected this year, Chen says. That's up from 18,000 in 2000.

Thyroid cancer seems to be more aggressive in patients who were exposed to radiation at work or for treatment of another condition, a Canadian study says. Survivors of atomic bombs and children living near areas contaminated by the 1986 nuclear reactor accident in Chernobyl, Ukraine suggest radiation is linked to both benign and malignant thyroid tumours, according to the study in the April issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery. In the 1950s and 60s, people were radiated for benign conditions such as acne, ear problems or fungal infections of the skin and the chest. "[T]his study suggests that patients who have been exposed to radiation have more aggressive disease and worse clinical outcome than other patients with thyroid cancer and, therefore, may require more aggressive treatment," Dr. Jeremy Freeman, chair of otolaryngology at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital, and his colleagues concluded in the study.

"Pennsylvania has the highest thyroid cancer rate of any U.S. state, and rates are especially high in the eastern part of the state, which has a large concentration of nuclear reactors, according to a new study released today. From 2001-2005, the Pennsylvania thyroid cancer incidence rate was 44% above the U.S., according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the 18 U.S. counties with the highest rates, six are located in eastern Pennsylvania. There are 9 nuclear reactors in this area, the largest concentration in the U.S. "Epidemic levels of thyroid cancer in eastern Pennsylvania suggest that radiation emitted by reactors may be driving up rates among local residents," says Joseph Mangano MPH MBA "because exposure to radiation is the only known cause of the disease." Mangano is Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project research group, and author of the article published in the current International Journal of Health Services. The research found that in the mid-1980s, Pennsylvania's thyroid cancer rate was 40% below the U.S. "Something occurred to change Pennsylvania's rate from low to high," says Mangano "and one of these possible factors is radiation from reactors.""

New research reveals that thyroid cancer rates near the Indian Point nuclear power plant are among the highest in the nation. Government statistics show that, compared to the U.S., thyroid cancer rates are 106 percent higher in Rockland County; 102 percent higher in Putnam County; 87 percent higher in Orange County; and 42 percent higher in Westchester County. These figures are alarming. Unfortunately, Westchester County Health Commissioner Joshua Lipsman maliciously attacks this research, done by the Radiation and Public Health Project. RPHP, which I direct, comprises professional scientists. Our research is factual, while he has no proof to support his statements. My colleagues and I have published 25 papers on radiation health risk in scientific journals, including the esteemed Lancet and British Medical Journal. All papers were peer-reviewed by expert scientists who found them to meet high professional standards. Lipsman never published a single journal article on radiation health.

New research reveals that thyroid cancer rates near the Indian Point nuclear power plant are among the highest in the nation. Government statistics show that, compared to the U.S., thyroid cancer rates are 106 percent higher in Rockland County; 102 percent higher in Putnam County; 87 percent higher in Orange County; and 42 percent higher in Westchester County. These figures are alarming. Unfortunately, Westchester County Health Commissioner Joshua Lipsman maliciously attacks this research, done by the Radiation and Public Health Project. RPHP, which I direct, comprises professional scientists. Our research is factual, while he has no proof to support his statements. My colleagues and I have published 25 papers on radiation health risk in scientific journals, including the esteemed Lancet and British Medical Journal. All papers were peer-reviewed by expert scientists who found them to meet high professional standards. Lipsman never published a single journal article on radiation health.

Residents living in counties in close proximity to the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester have the highest cases for thyroid cancer, a startling new report revealed Monday. According to the article published in the International Journal of Health Services, the rate of residents in the area diagnosed with the disease is the highest in New York State and among the highest in the United States. The 2001-2005 rate for the four counties surrounding the plant - Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester - was 66% above the U.S. Average, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rates of local residents with thyroid cancer have significantly increased since the late 1970s, when the two Indian point reactors were installed, the report revealed.

Residents living in counties in close proximity to the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester have the highest cases for thyroid cancer, a startling new report revealed Monday. According to the article published in the International Journal of Health Services, the rate of residents in the area diagnosed with the disease is the highest in New York State and among the highest in the United States. The 2001-2005 rate for the four counties surrounding the plant - Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester - was 66% above the U.S. Average, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rates of local residents with thyroid cancer have significantly increased since the late 1970s, when the two Indian point reactors were installed, the report revealed.

The incidence of thyroid cancer is rising at an alarming rate in Vermont, as well as across this country and especially in the Northeastern states. No cancer diagnosis is growing as fast according to the National Cancer Institute, with a growth rate of about 6 percent a year since 1997. Most newly diagnosed are women, who are two to three times more likely than men to develop thyroid cancer. Brenda Edwards is a statistician with the National Cancer Institute and reported that the annual rate increase of thyroid cancer doubled from 2 percent in the 1980s to 4.6 percent in the 1990s to 9.8 percent in 2005 for U.S males and females of all ages. That is the latest year publicly reported.

"More Hanford downwinders could be going to trial to have their claims heard in a 19-year-old case. Almost 2,000 plaintiffs have pending claims, many of them asserting that past emissions of radioactive material from the Hanford nuclear reservation were carried downwind and caused cancer or other thyroid disease. Some people also believe they developed other cancers from eating contaminated fish. On Wednesday, Judge William Fremming Nielsen of Eastern Washington District Federal Court in Spokane said that he would select 30 of the claims for hypothyroidism, or underactive thyroids, to proceed to trial as soon as October. In addition, about 32 claims filed for thyroid cancer will be considered for settlement with the help of a mediator."

"Thyroid cancer rates in Pennsylvania soared in recent decades and radiation from nuclear power plants may be the cause, a study released Thursday said. Joseph Mangano, who authored the study which appeared in the International Journal of Health Services and is executive director for the Radiation and Public Health Project, called the growth in the number of cases "an epidemic." Pennsylvania's incidence of thyroid cancer in the mid-1980s was 40 percent below the national rate, and now the rate is 44 percent above the national rate, he said. "Something occurred to change Pennsylvania's rate from low to high, and one of these possible factors is radiation from reactors," Mangano said. Some of the highest thyroid cancer rates occur in eastern Pennsylvania, which has the nation's largest concentration of nuclear reactors, including the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station in Salem Township, he said."

"There is no doubt that there has been a large increase in thyroid cancer incidence due to Chernobyl. I helped to bring this to public attention in 1992; we later showed that most cases have occurred among those who were young children at the time of exposure to high levels of fallout. This increase, initially seen in children is now occurring in young adults. Your special report on radiation (11 January), using World Health Organisation figures, comments that "only a few children have died of cancers since the accident". Apart from the tragedy of any child's death, measuring the impact only by mortality ignores the morbidity. Thyroid cancer generally has a very high cure rate, but thousands of thyroid operations have been carried out, some followed by multiple treatments and other consequences. The effects on the rest of Europe, largely exposed to low-dose radiation, are much less certain. The widely varying assessments of the numbers of deaths attributable to Chernobyl illustrate the need for a definitive unbiased long-term assessment of the overall consequences of the accident, as well as the need to maintain a sense of perspective."

"Around 45 percent of children in Fukushima Prefecture checked by the prefectural and central governments in late March experienced thyroid exposure to radiation, although in all cases in trace amounts that didn't warrant further examination, officials of the Nuclear Safety Commission said Tuesday. The survey was conducted on 1,080 children from newborns to age 15 in Iwaki, Kawamata and Iitate from March 26 to 30 in light of radiation leaking from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. Among children who tested positive for thyroid exposure, the amounts measured 0.04 microsievert per hour or less in most cases. The largest exposure was 0.1 microsievert per hour, equivalent to a yearly dose of 50 millisieverts for a 1-year-old."

Radiation from the atomic bomb blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945, likely rearranged chromosomes in some survivors who later developed papillary thyroid cancer as adults, according to Japanese researchers. Newswise - Radiation from the atomic bomb blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945, likely rearranged chromosomes in some survivors who later developed papillary thyroid cancer as adults, according to Japanese researchers. In the September 1, 2008, issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, the scientists report that subjects who lived close to the blast sites, were comparably young at the time, and developed the cancer quickly once they reached adulthood, were likely to have a chromosomal rearrangement known as RET/PTC that is not very frequent in adults who develop the disease.

Some people have been kicking up an awful lot of fuss about the EPA's decision to not regulate the amount of perchlorate found in drinking water. If you don't track hazardous waste in the environment as obsessively as we do, perchlorate is an explosive used in rocket propellant and fireworks that has been detected in the water supplies of 35 states. It's also shown up in leafy vegetables irrigated with Colorado River water, and in milk from California cows, indicating that perchlorate can disperse and concentrate itself in everything from the environment, to the food we eat, to our own bodies. No studies have yet been released on the chemical's effect on aquatic life, but we do know it's hazardous to humans. Perchlorate, according to the FDA, disrupts thyroid hormone function. Fetuses and infants are particularly at risk because thyroid hormones are crucial to normal central nervous system growth and development.

Greg Clary rightly asserts that "it's time for the anti-nuclear people to put their resources into figuring out real alternatives to nuclear power." ("Getting to the truth on Indian Point," Friday Earth Watch column). Yes, merely pointing out the problem is not enough. We should proceed with a plan of safe alternative energy, conservation, and more efficient use of electricity with no further delay. But waiting for the solution means more unneeded suffering. My presentation of new data on thyroid cancer, obtained from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (http://statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov/) at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission hearing last week in Cortlandt Manor is just the latest in a series of findings that cancer rates near Indian Point are unusually high. Thyroid cancer rates in Orange, Putnam, Rockland, and Westchester counties are among the highest in the U.S., according to the CDC.

The NRC has approved a staff recommendation to continue providing potassium iodide (KI) to states requesting it for residents who live within the 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone of a commercial nuclear power plant. The NRC had originally authorized only a one-time distribution to states requesting the product. KI can help reduce the risk of thyroid cancer and other diseases by blocking the thyroid gland's absorption of radioactive iodine, which could be dispersed in the unlikely event of a severe reactor accident. KI can be used as part of a state's emergency preparedness program, in addition to evacuations and/or sheltering-in-place for the population closest to the nuclear power plant and thus at greatest risk of exposure to radioactive materials released during an accident.

Radiation from the atomic bomb blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945, likely rearranged chromosomes in some survivors who later developed papillary thyroid cancer as adults, according to Japanese researchers. In the 1 September issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, the scientists report that subjects who lived close to the blast sites, were comparably young at the time, and developed the cancer quickly once they reached adulthood, were likely to have a chromosomal rearrangement known as RET/PTC that is not very frequent in adults who develop the disease.

Jason Kish's November 21 letter misses the point I made about Potassium Iodide (KI) pills. I wasn't referring to the effectiveness of KI pills protecting the thyroid gland from a concentration of radioactive iodine released in a nuclear plant disaster. The myth I referred to is the false assumption made by many that KI pills are the magic protector in the event of an accident or terrorist attack at Limerick Nuclear Plant, when in reality, KI pills would only protect one gland from one radionuclide. That inaccurate assumption is made because when handing out KI pills, the public is not provided with full disclosure of all the radionuclides that would be released in a nuclear disaster, for which KI pills will not protect us. It's time to tell the whole truth .

Jason Kish's November 21 letter misses the point I made about Potassium Iodide (KI) pills. I wasn't referring to the effectiveness of KI pills protecting the thyroid gland from a concentration of radioactive iodine released in a nuclear plant disaster. The myth I referred to is the false assumption made by many that KI pills are the magic protector in the event of an accident or terrorist attack at Limerick Nuclear Plant, when in reality, KI pills would only protect one gland from one radionuclide. That inaccurate assumption is made because when handing out KI pills, the public is not provided with full disclosure of all the radionuclides that would be released in a nuclear disaster, for which KI pills will not protect us. It's time to tell the whole truth .

How careful do patients have to be following nuclear diagnostic tests, or after radiation for the treatment of cancer? How long do these nuclear materials remain in the body? And how long will this radiation remain detectable and transmissible to others? A report from Johns Hopkins University says that patients, following radiation, must be made aware that they can pass along radiation to others. But unlike cholesterol, this subject is rarely, if ever, discussed at the dinner table. The problem is that nuclear diagnostic tests are not going to go away or decrease. Rather, unless we develop other means of diagnosis, these tests will increase in the years ahead. During scans to detect thyroid disease, coronary troubles and cancer, radioactive drugs are either injected, taken orally or inhaled. Gamma cameras or positron emission tomography (PET) scanners can then detect this energy and use it to produce images of the body on a computer.

How careful do patients have to be following nuclear diagnostic tests, or after radiation for the treatment of cancer? How long do these nuclear materials remain in the body? And how long will this radiation remain detectable and transmissible to others? A report from Johns Hopkins University says that patients, following radiation, must be made aware that they can pass along radiation to others. But unlike cholesterol, this subject is rarely, if ever, discussed at the dinner table. The problem is that nuclear diagnostic tests are not going to go away or decrease. Rather, unless we develop other means of diagnosis, these tests will increase in the years ahead. During scans to detect thyroid disease, coronary troubles and cancer, radioactive drugs are either injected, taken orally or inhaled. Gamma cameras or positron emission tomography (PET) scanners can then detect this energy and use it to produce images of the body on a computer.

Most of the residents of SLO County have received information about obtaining K1 tablets in case radiation is released from the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. We can all get two tablets per household member; keep them safe, know where they are. So far, so good: But please tell me, how are all the kids at school supposed to get the tablets in case of such a horrible emergency? The tablets are supposed to be taken in "an appropriate and timely dosage." What exactly is "timely"? There is no guarantee kids will be at home during such an emergency. School kids might not take pills to school with them. If they need medication while at school, it is given to the school nurse for safe- keeping. However, most schools no longer have school nurses on campus. Who would deal with this? Will parents be able to leave K1 tablets clearly marked for their kids with somebody? Has any thought been given to this? The K1 tablets do not provide protection other than for the thyroid gland, but in children, I must assume that this is protection worthwhile -while we scramble to get out of harm's way!

Most of the residents of SLO County have received information about obtaining K1 tablets in case radiation is released from the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. We can all get two tablets per household member; keep them safe, know where they are. So far, so good: But please tell me, how are all the kids at school supposed to get the tablets in case of such a horrible emergency? The tablets are supposed to be taken in "an appropriate and timely dosage." What exactly is "timely"? There is no guarantee kids will be at home during such an emergency. School kids might not take pills to school with them. If they need medication while at school, it is given to the school nurse for safe- keeping. However, most schools no longer have school nurses on campus. Who would deal with this? Will parents be able to leave K1 tablets clearly marked for their kids with somebody? Has any thought been given to this? The K1 tablets do not provide protection other than for the thyroid gland, but in children, I must assume that this is protection worthwhile -while we scramble to get out of harm's way!

n a last-ditch effort to avoid regulating widespread perchlorate contamination of drinking water, the Bush Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is calling for yet another blue-ribbon study of the toxic rocket fuel component and widespread pollutant. While the work of the National Academy of Sciences is highly respected, the EPA leadership's attempt to have NAS conduct a new review of perchlorate has to be seen as nothing more than an effort to dodge the issue and buy time for the defense, aerospace and chemical industries, which have been lobbying aggressively to avoid millions in perchlorate clean-up costs. "We know enough about perchlorate's thyroid-disrupting properties to understand that our government has to address this danger immediately," said Dr. Anila Jacob, Senior Scientist with Environmental Working Group (EWG). "EPA has fought every call for a safety standard for perchlorate in drinking water, prompting Congress to introduce measures compelling the agency to do so. Now, with less than two weeks left in power, the Bush team has come up with a last-minute ploy - another study that will amount to a delaying action."

Congressman David Dreier, R-San Dimas, kicked off the 111th Congress today by reintroducing legislation to provide funds for ongoing perchlorate clean-up in San Gabriel Valley groundwater. The measure would increase by $61.2 million federal funds in the San Gabriel Basin Restoration Fund, which is used throughout the region for cleanup of perchlorate, a chemical in rocket fuel and fireworks. Under the bill, the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority would receive $50 million and the Central Basin Municipal Water District would receive $11.2 million. Perchlorate can reduce the production of thyroid hormones, which in fetuses and infants are critical for normal growth and development of the central nervous system, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Therefore, pregnant women and infants are at greatest risk if exposed to perchlorate.