Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cesium, congenital hypothyroidism, fallout, Fukushima, hypothyroidism, I-131, infant mortality, iodine, meltdowns, nuclear accident, nuclear weapons tests, pediatrics, thyroid
http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=28599
Mangano and Sherman, “Elevated airborne beta levels in Pacific/West Coast US States and trends in hypothyroidism among newborns after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown” Open Journal of Pediatrics, Volume 3, Number 1, March 2013.
1.2. Exposure to Radioactive Iodine as a Factor
in Congenital HypothyroidismAnother potential environmental risk factor is prenatal
exposure to radioactive iodine isotopes, which seek out
the susceptible fetal thyroid gland. For decades radioactive
iodine has been recognized to cause adverse effects
(including hypothyroidism) to the thyroid gland. The
fetal thyroid, the first glandular structure to appear in the
human embryo [14], begins to concentrate iodine and
produce thyroid hormones by the 70th day of gestation
[15]. In the mid-1950s, during the period of atmospheric
nuclear weapons tests, I-131 produced by fission was
first detected in the adult human thyroid [16,17]. I-131
concentrations were calculated to be about 10 times
higher in the human fetal thyroid vs. the human adult or
hog thyroid [18], and maximum elevations in fetal thy-
roids were detected approximately one month after nuclear
explosions [19]. The main path of exposure to shortlived
isotopes such as I-131 is via dairy products due to
radioactive fallout deposition on forage [20].[…]
It gets all over the grass, the cows eat the grass, and the I-131 and Cesium are thus concentrated in cheese and milk.
…Large amounts of fallout disseminated worldwide from the meltdowns in four reactors at the Fukushima-Dai-ichi plant in Japan beginning March 11, 2011 included radioiodine isotopes. Just days after the meltdowns, I-131 concentrations in US precipitation was measured up to 211 times above normal. Highest levels of I-131 and airborne gross beta were documented in the five US States on the Pacific Ocean. The number of congenital hypothyroid cases in these five states from March 17-December 31, 2011 was 16% greater than for the same period in 2010, compared to a 3% decline in 36 other US States (p < 0.03). The greatest divergence in these two groups (+28%) occurred in the period March 17-June 30 (p < 0.04). …
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