Unfortunately, there appears to be so much corporate involvement in the research process, that some of the information being released to the public, and presented as “unbiased research,” may in fact reflect, consciously or unconsciously, the interests of its sponsors and participants.
One study that raises such questions is a study reported on in 2005 in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. The study was conducted by:
- The Boston Medical Center
- Consultants in Epidemiology and Occupational Health, Inc. (an environmental consulting firm that does industry-funded studies, based in Washington, DC)
- Environ (an environmental consulting firm)
- Kerr-McGee Shared Services (a division of the Kerr-McGree Corporation, which includes Kerr-McGee Chemical, a manufacturer of perchlorate)
It is surprising that The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism published this study, given that there are various issues that raise clear questions of conflict of interest.
For example, one of the members of the Perchlorate Study Group is Kerr-McGee Chemical, which is a division of Kerr-McGee Corporation (Source: SourceWatch.org.) The study was, therefore, both funded by and conducted by the same corporation – one that has a major financial interest in a particular outcome regarding perchlorate’s health impact.
Other members of the Perchlorate Study Group include Aerojet, American Pacific Corporation, and Lockheed Martin, groups that also have a key financial stake in showing that perchlorate does not have a significant health impact.
Environ’s website states that it “provides state-of-the-art strategic risk management and technical consulting services addressing a broad range of human health and environmental risk issues related to the presence of chemicals in the environment.”
Dr. Stephan H. Lamm, head of Consultants in Epidemiology and Occupational Health, Inc., is cited as an expert source by the Council on Water Quality (an industry group) and the American Water Works Association (another industry group). His group, Consultants in Epidemiology and Occupational Health, Inc., has also done studies favoring industry on other controversial public health issues including contaminated soils, chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated wood, and silicon breast implants.
In this particular study, levels of total T3, total T4, urinary iodine/creatine ratio, thyroid volume, FTI (free thyroxine index), thyroglobulin, TSH, and 14-hour radioactive iodine uptake were compared. The study subjects were factory workers, evaluated during their days off, compared to their work days. These were also compared with levels of controls, but the controls lives in the same city as the workers. During work days, the 14-hour radioactive iodine uptake of factory workers decreased significantly, by 38%. During work days, factory workers’ serum T4 levels, free thyroxine index levels, and total T3 concentrations also increased during work days. The study’s authors dismissed these results as insignificant.
Researchers also noted a 60% increase in radioactive iodine uptake on factory workers’ days off, which they interpreted as evidence of up-regulation of sodium-iodide symporter (carrier mechanism for two different molecules or ions through a membrane in the same direction) due to chronic exposure to goitrogens. The factory workers’ urinary iodine excretion on work days was about 55% higher than on days off, suggesting that the thyroid is using less iodine on such days.
The study’s authors concluded that perchlorate exposure did not induce goiter or any evidence of hypothyroidism because serum TSH and thyroglobulin (Tg) levels stayed the same, even though radioactive iodine uptake was decreased on work days.
One questionable aspect of the study is that the controls used for the study were people in the same city in which the factory was located. People who live in a city with a perchlorate manufacturing plant – even if they do not work there—may also be chronically exposed to perchlorate due to contamination in their water supply.
