The incidence of thyroid cancer is rising at an alarming rate in Vermont, as well as across this country and especially in the Northeastern states. No cancer diagnosis is growing as fast according to the National Cancer Institute, with a growth rate of about 6 percent a year since 1997. Most newly diagnosed are women, who are two to three times more likely than men to develop thyroid cancer.

Brenda Edwards is a statistician with the National Cancer Institute and reported that the annual rate increase of thyroid cancer doubled from 2 percent in the 1980s to 4.6 percent in the 1990s to 9.8 percent in 2005 for U.S males and females of all ages. That is the latest year publicly reported.

Unfortunately, both the Centers for Disease Control and the Vermont Department of Health report the incidence of thyroid cancer by aggregating the data over five years on women and men of all ages so that the public health significance of trending is absent. It is the trend of thyroid cancer rising every year and the implications of that rise that should be publicly reported so that our public health leadership can begin to analyze and investigate the possible causes.

The American Cancer Society estimates thyroid cancer will strike 33,550 Americans, mostly women. Yet the CDC just reported recently that the incidence of cancer is on the wane in this country. I believe our women in this county are getting "nuked," yet very few of our health leaders are paying attention.

Joe Mangano, a public health expert from the nonprofit Radiation and Public Health Project, had found a remarkable pattern plotting nuclear reactors on a map with counties in Pennsylvania reporting the highest rates of thyroid cancer. He too has been asking for further study for years, as these findings point to the possibility that thyroid cancer risk has been raised by exposure to radioactive iodine, which is routinely released as airborne particles from nuclear reactor sites.

Radiation exposure is cumulative, as most nuclear reactors have been operating for years. Radiation exposure is also thyroid cancer's most recognized primary risk factor. When radioactive iodine enters the body through breathing and the food chain, it seeks out the thyroid gland where it kills and injures cells leading to cancer and other disorders.

Vermont Yankee is one of the oldest nuclear reactors in the United States and routinely releases greater amounts of radioactive iodine-131, (the 13th highest in 2002) than the other 104 U.S nuclear reactors. The Vermont Department of Health 2008 surveillance report released this past July, reports, "The ionizing radiation to which people are exposed as a result of Vermont Yankee operations is a known human carcinogen. As with other carcinogens, it is impossible to prove that low doses are without risk. With radiation exposure it is assumed that no dose is without risk." A National Academy of Sciences panel also recently concluded that even very low doses of radiation pose a risk of cancer over a person's lifetime.

The Vermont Department of Health broke the law when they allowed a 30 percent increase in radiation emissions so that this aging Vermont Yankee reactor could power up to 120 percent capacity. The Health Department did not report in their latest surveillance report that thyroid cancer is trending up in Vermont, especially for Vermont women. The rate of increase of 19.5 percent for 2005 (up from 4.8 percent rate in 1996 in Vermont) surpasses even the United States rate of increase for women.

The Department of Health also did not disclose that their new way of calculating exposure (ANSI/ANS-6.1.1-1991), what some call "a fudge factor," was really an old expired way — a standard "withdrawn" since 2001 that was not renewed because a formal review to determine its accuracy had not been performed within a 10-year period. By using this "historical" method, the Health Department could and did report Vermont Yankee was in compliance.

The Health Department states on its Web site that it will lead our state in the development of systemic approaches to health promotion, safety, and disease prevention. In my view, it is failing its mission of public health and safety and should be held accountable for its deception. Our political leadership should open an investigation on why the Health Department is not being honest with the state of Vermont and its citizens who employ them.



Kathleen Krevetski is a registered nurse and community activist who lives in Rutland.