FALLOUT EXPECTED TO TRIGGER MORE THYROID CANCERS.Byline: Richard Saltus The Boston Globe Radioactive fallout from U.S. nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere may be responsible for 10,000 to 75,000 cases of thyroid cancer Thyroid Cancer Definition Thyroid cancer is a disease in which the cells of the thyroid gland become abnormal, grow uncontrollably, and form a mass of cells called a tumor. , mainly in people who were younger than 15 during the 1950s and '60s, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the first nationwide study of the potential hazard. Dr. Richard Klausner, director of the National Cancer Institute, said the study was not designed to determine the increase in cancer risk traceable to radioactive iodine radioactive iodine n. Any of the radioisotopes of iodine, especially I131, I125, or I123, used as tracers in biology and medicine. in the fallout. He has directed the National Institute of Medicine to convene an expert panel to come up with such an estimate within six months. ``We do not feel we have the data to support the idea that there was a large risk, yet we cannot rule it out,'' Klausner said in a conference-call briefing from Bethesda, Md. The report, which was ordered by Congress in 1982, estimated that 30 percent of thyroid cancers resulting from the fallout have been diagnosed. In a statement accompanying a summary of the 1,000-page report, cancer institute officials noted that the great majority of thyroid cancers grow slowly and are about 95 percent curable cur·a·ble adj. Capable of being cured or healed. . The fallout from 90 open-air blasts, detonated mostly from 1952 to 1957, was highest in the Western states north and east of the Nevada test site The Nevada Test Site is a United States Department of Energy reservation located in Nye County, Nevada, about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of the City of Las Vegas, near . , the NCI See Liberate. report said. However, it said people in every county in the 48 contiguous states received some exposure. Most Massachusetts counties received average or below-average doses, the report said, but Berkshire County in the western part of the state had more than 4 rads of exposure. Much of Vermont also had higher-than average fallout doses. Most of the fallout was ingested in·gest tr.v. in·gest·ed, in·gest·ing, in·gests 1. To take into the body by the mouth for digestion or absorption. See Synonyms at eat. 2. with contaminated contaminated, v 1. made radioactive by the addition of small quantities of radioactive material. 2. made contaminated by adding infective or radiographic materials. 3. an infective surface or object. milk, and exposures were especially high for children raised on farms who drank the milk soon after it came from cows, before the radioactivity had time to dissipate. The cows picked up the radioactivity by eating grass dusted by fallout carried on the wind. The average dose to the 160 million people living in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. at the time was about 2 rads, about five times the dose given in a modern mammogram mammogram /mam·mo·gram/ (mam´o-gram) a radiograph of the breast. mam·mo·gram n. An x-ray image of the breast produced by mammography. . Children under 5 years old at the time would have received doses three to seven times higher than average because their bodies were smaller, their thyroid glands concentrated radioactive iodine more efficiently than those of adults, and they drank more milk, said Klausner. Adults, on the other hand, would have received two to four times less than the average dose. Estimated average cumulative doses in the 24 counties with highest exposures nationwide ranged from 9 to 16 rads, and a child in one of those counties theoretically could have received more than 100 rads. By comparison, children in the 1950s may have received up to 200 to 300 rads in thyroid scans and other medical procedures that were common at the time, when the dangers of radiation exposure were less well understood. Dr. Gilbert Daniels, a thyroid specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital Health care The major teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School, widely regarded as one of the best health care centers in the world , said in an interview that both benign and malignant thyroid tumors have been more frequent than normal among those individuals. Exposures from medical procedures were external, however, and those figures don't help scientists calculate the risks of the internal exposure that resulted from nuclear fallout Fallout is the residual radiation hazard from a nuclear explosion, so named because it "falls out" of the atmosphere into which it is spread during the explosion. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust created when a nuclear weapon explodes. . To get a more accurate assessment of the added risk, said Klausner, NCI researchers are collaborating with other agencies in a study of thyroid cancer in Belarus and Ukraine, where a significant increase in the disease has been observed as a result of radiation from the 1986 nuclear plant accident at Chernobyl. ``There was a tremendous amount of radiation in Belarus and Ukraine, the doses to fetuses in utero in utero (in u´ter-o) [L.] within the uterus. in u·ter·o adj. In the uterus. in utero adv. and to newborns was very, very high,'' said Daniels. ``This exposure is beyond anything anybody dreamed about,'' and far exceeds the hazards created by the U.S. bomb tests, he said. Daniels noted that among individuals exposed to external radiation in the United States, thyroid tumors began to appear after 10 or 15 years and peaked at about 20 to 25 years. But he said thyroid cancers began cropping up around Chernobyl only four years after the reactor fire spewed radiation into the atmosphere. ``And those tumors have been much more aggressive'' than the usual thyroid cancer, he added. About 16,100 people are expected to be diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 1997 and 1,230 will die from it, the NCI estimates. The cancer institute said anyone concerned about childhood fallout exposure should contact a doctor. County-by-county fallout dose estimates are available at the National Cancer Institute's Internet site: http://rex.nci.nih.gov. LIST OF COUNTIES List of counties across America that received the highest estimated doses of radioactive fallout from 1950s nuclear tests
12 to 16 Rads Idaho - Custer, Gem, Blaine, Lemhi Montana - Meagher Colorado - Gunnison Idaho - Idaho Montana - Broadwater, Beaverhead, Jefferson, Powell, Judith Basin, Madison, Fergus, Gallatin, Petroleum, Lewis and Clark, Blaine, Silver Bow, Chouteau, Deer Lodge South Dakota - Haakon Utah - Washington (portions) Kane (portions) 6 to 9 Rads Arkansas - Benton, Craighead, Fulton, Independence, Izard Iz´ard n. 1. (Zool.) A variety of the chamois found in the Pyrenees. , Jackson, Lawrence, Madison, Sharp, Washington Colorado - Archuleta, Conejos, Hinsdale, Mineral, Saguache Idaho - Boise, Butte Butte, city, United States Butte (by  t), city (1990 pop. 33,336), seat of Silver Bow co., SW Mont.; inc. 1879. It is a trade, ranching, and industrial center. , Camas, Clark, Fremont, Jefferson, Payette, Teton, Valley, Washington Illinois - Adams, Christian, Hancock, Logan, Pike, Whiteside. Iowa - Adair, Adams, Davis, Decatur, Fremont, Marion, Shelby, Tama, Taylor, VanBuren, Woodbury Kansas - Barber, Barton, Butler, Chase, Chautaqua, Coffey, Cowley, Decatur, Dickinson, Elk, Ellis, Ellsworth, Ford, Gove, Graham, Greenwood, Harper, Harvey, Kearny, Kingman, Labette, Lincoln, Lyon, McPherson, Marion, Mitchell, Ness, Norton, Osborne, Ottawa, Phillips, Pottawatomie, Rawlins, Reno, Republic, Rice, Rooks Rooks can refer to: People:
Minnesota - Faribault, Houston, Mower, Wabasha Missouri - Adair, Audrain, Camden, Cedar, Clark, Jasper, Knox, Lafayette, Lawrence, Lewis, Linn linn n. Scots 1. A waterfall. 2. A steep ravine. [Scottish Gaelic linne, pool, waterfall.] , Macon, Marion, Miller, Monroe, Morgan, Osage, Pike, Putnam, Ralls, Ray, Schuyler, Scotland, Shelby, Sullivan, Worth, Wright Montana - Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Cascade, Chouteau, Custer, Daniels, Dawson, Deer Lodge, Fallon, Flathead, Garfield, Glacier, Golden Valley, Granite, Hill, Lake, Liberty, McCone, Mineral, Missoula, Musselshell, Park, Phillips, Pondera, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Roosevelt, Rosebud, Sheridan, Sweet Grass, Teton, Toole, Treasure, Valley, Wheatland, Wibaux Nebraska - Arthur, Blaine, Boone, Boyd, Brown, Cedar, Cherry, Cuming, Dawson, Dixon, Frontier, Furnas, Garden, Gosper, Harlan, Hooker, Knox, Lincoln, Logan, Nance, Nuckolls, Phelps, Pierce, Sioux, Thomas, Wheeler North Dakota - Adams, Billings, Bowman, Dickey, Dunn, Emmons, Foster, Golden Valley, Grant, La Moure, McIntosh, McKenzie, McLean, Mercer, Morton, Ransom, Richland, Sargent, Slope, Stark South Dakota - Aurora, Beadle BEADLE. Eng. law. A messenger or apparitor of a court, who cites persons to appear to what is alleged against them, is so called. , Bennett, Brookings, Brule, Buffalo, Butte, Campbell, Charles Mix, Clark, Codington, Corson, Custer, Dewey, Douglas, Edmunds, Faulk, Gregory, Hand, Harding, Hyde, Jackson, Jerauld, Jones, Kingsbury, Lyman, Meade, Mellette, Pennington, Perkins, Potter, Sanborn, Spink, Stanley, Sully, Todd, Tripp, Walworth, Ziebach Utah - Garfield, Kane (portions) Millard, Utah, Washington (portions) Wyoming - Niobrara The Associated Press CAPTION(S): Box Box: LIST OF COUNTIES (See Text) |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion