Chernobyl Exposure in Children and Teens Increases Thyroid Disease Risk
Tuesday February 26, 2008
We know radiation exposure is a thyroid risk factor. But now, new research confirms previous findings that childhood or adolescent exposure to radiation after the 1986 Chornobyl (Chernobyl) nuclear accident caused an increased risk of follicular adenoma (benign thyroid tumor), and the risk was greater in women than men. The research, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found that while there was increased risk of a benign tumor it is, however, less than the risk of developing a malignant tumor (thyroid cancer).
Zablotska, Lydia, et. al. "A Cohort Study of Thyroid Cancer and Other Thyroid Diseases after the Chornobyl Accident: Dose-Response Analysis of Thyroid Follicular Adenomas Detected during First Screening in Ukraine (1998–2000)," Am. J. Epidemiol. 2008 167: 305-312; Online
Comments
Could there be a connection between mine and my husband’s hypothyroidism. We were stationed in W. Germany during the year of the accident at Chernobly.Just a thought. Does anyone out there know if being that far away could have had affected our thyroid’s????????
Hi, I think the possibility definitely exists that your thyroids experienced an uptake of the radiation, thus rendering them ineffective. I had mine removed due to cancer in 2002- my dad was the only one who didn’t have thyroid issues–he travelled a great deal-go figure? Mom, brother, myself-cancer; my sister has hypothroidism. Depending on your ages, it could also be that any beef you ingested in years passed could have played a part. It is a known fact that farmers (starting in the late 40’s) used antithyroid suppliments to fatten their cattle, not knowing the outcome of consumers ingesting the meat later. My parents are in their 80’s and are both taking suppliments due to the high content of fluoride in the water that they drank while living near a well in the country. Hope this helps..
Hello to all concerned,
I am of the opion (Í was a scientist: Molecular Geneticist, Untill I was made 100% ‘work-disabled’ in 2002, due to Hashi’s Hypo: so now on state-benefit..)..
…That it can not be ONE thing (reason/cause..), that could make someone an Auto-Immuun-patient (such as Hashimoto’s Hypothyroidism)..
..The combination of
1) ‘Genetic Make-up’ , and
2) circumstances/medical historical events of the patient..
..combined,..could probably cause the Auto-Immune-Disease, ..we are talking about
I have always (early-childhood) reacted EXTREME to outer-influences:
a) Others would get a cold,..I would get a FEVER (over-reacting immune-systeme)
b) I got a lot of ’strange/extreme’ viral infections (presumably attacking my immune-systeme):..Pfeiffer-like diseases etc.
c) I was exposed to MORE than average exposure of radiation during the Chernobyl-disaster…
I can explain the last in more detail:
I had in fact been cycling through the heavy rain (coinciding with the Chernobyl-disaster) for quite some hours,…The next day, I got on the ‘radiation-counter’ at my work ( I used to be a scientist at the Free University of Amsterdam, working a lot with radio-active materials for the purpose of my research..)..
and my CLEAN/basic counts (radiotions per minute, rpm) were OFF the scale..
All these things together, I believe,..have made it possible, for my body to develop an Auto-Immune-Disease, such as Hashimoto’s..
Sincerely,
I. Verwoert