Thyroid Radiation Treatments Causing Hassles At the Border
Sunday August 10, 2008
Newsweek has a new article discussing problems some thyroid patients are having when they are entering U.S. border checkpoints from Mexico and Canada. After radioactive iodine treatment -- which is most commonly used to treat Graves' disease and thyroid cancer -- some of these patients are radioactive enough to set off the "radiation portal monitors" that are installed at the border checkpoints to detect people who are trying to smuggle nukes or "dirty bombs" into the U.S. Read the Newsweek article now.Want to Know How to Avoid Problems At Border and Airport Security Checkpoints?
More Information Photo: istockphoto.com
Comments
I would never had believed this but it actually happened to me. I had a radiation treatment 2 weeks before some friends and I went down to Tijuana for dinner and on our way back we were pulled over becuase I had set-off the radiation alert system.
I live in San Diego County which is close to the Mexican border. After RAI UCSD Hospital gave me a letter explaining why I would be radio active to present to airport and border officials. I flew to the east coast 4 weeks after RAI but didn’t set off any alarms but made sure I carried the letter.