TSH Testing Raises Awareness of Importance of Thyr...( SAINT JOHN New Brunswick ...)

SAINT JOHN, New Brunswick, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- A new effort to examine the link between nuclear reactors and thyroid disease near NYC was made at Croton on Hudson, during this year's Clearwater Festival. The festival is held just downstream from Indian Point, the oldest operating nuclear reactor in the U.S. In keeping with Clearwater's commitment to a clean environment, it stepped up by permitting testing for elevated Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH), the first clinical indicator of hypothyroidism, the most common disease of the thyroid.

"There are no standard testing programs for thyroid health in the U.S. even though the rate of thyroid cancer has nearly tripled since 1980," said Joseph Mangano, MPH, MBA, executive director of the Radiation and Public Health Project, sponsors of the testing program. "In the four counties neighboring Indian Point, thyroid cancer is 70% above the U.S. rate and newborn hypothyroidism, a cause of mental retardation, is 90% greater than the U.S. rate."

"The purpose of TSH testing at a location 35 miles from midtown Manhattan was to raise public awareness of the importance of the thyroid gland," said Mangano. "In some EU countries, the level of nutrients appropriate for a functioning thyroid is stamped on bread wrappers. Here, few have any idea of where the thyroid is and what the thyroid does, how radiation may affect it, and what a health risk a damaged thyroid can be."

"The National Cancer Institute is looking at Iodine 131, the most probable cause of thyroid damage produced by a nuclear malfunction," said Mangano. "The study is taking place right now in Belarus. We have known for a long time that gamma rays and X-rays affect the thyroid but no one has really studied the effects of Iodine 131."

"No single blood test can determine thyroid cancer but a TSH test may be used to evaluate the thyroid's activity and test for hyp
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