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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... Latest Releases
Press releases?
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| SEPTEMBER
2, 1998 3:01 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Physicians for Social Responsibilty Sharon Pickett 301-365-9307 sharonp@psr.org or Robert Tiller 202-898-0150 ext. 220 btiller@psr.org |
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| Physicians Group Faults Institute of Medicine Report | ||||
| WASHINGTON
- September 2 - Leaders of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) expressed dismay at
the omissions and limitations of the report on thyroid cancer and nuclear weapons tests
issued yesterday by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council. PSR called for a far more explicit acknowledgment of the government's culpability in causing the estimated tens of thousands of thyroid cancers produced by fallout from nuclear weapons testing. PSR also urged an aggressive research effort to resolve the problems of diagnosis and decision-making that now limit the accuracy of large-scale screening programs for thyroid cancers. The IOM-NRC report opposes a major government-sponsored thyroid screening program on the grounds that the harms exceeded any benefits, and argued that there is no evidence that early detection of thyroid cancer would reduce mortality. PSR offered qualified support for the IOM-NRC recommendation that, instead, the government should "offer but discourage" thyroid screening and treatment for anyone who believes that he/she was at high risk from iodine fallout, so long as the final decisions are made jointly by individual patients and their physicians. In PSR's view, such an approach is acceptable only as interim step which is accompanied by a major research effort. Some experts believe - contrary to the IOM-NRC report's contention - that it will be possible to identify individuals at highest risk with reasonable certainty. If this proves to be true, then a carefully planned screening program for this sub-group of millions who were exposed might be effective and yield valuable new knowledge. Physicians for Social Responsibility, which helped force last year's release of the long-suppressed National Cancer Institute study of radioactive iodine fallout from U.S. nuclear weapons tests, declared that the IOM-NRC report does not go far enough in several areas. First, the report does not clearly call for further research on diagnostic methods and treatment choices for groups that are at high risk of thyroid diseases from iodine-131 fallout. Second, the report does not adequately identify the federal government's responsibility for creating the iodine fallout through nuclear weapons tests or its obligation to those who have been injured and put at risk.The report does not emphasize the federal government's decades-long record of suppressing information, falsely denying risks, ignoring public health concerns, conducting inadequate monitoring, and stalling the production and release of scientific reports on the effects of fallout. Third, the report does not address the identification and treatment of people who suffer from other thyroid diseases as a result of exposure to nuclear testing fallout. PSR believes that all funding for health studies related to nuclear weapons should be removed from the Department of Energy and transferred to the Centers for Disease Control. PSR also believes that the U.S. program of testing, manufacturing and stockpiling nuclear weapons has created unacceptable health risks for the American people and urges the U.S. government to work toward eliminating all nuclear weapons from the Earth. Background materials and interviews with experts available on request. Physicians for Social Responsibility is an organization of health care professionals and others working to end nuclear testing and abolish nuclear weapons. It is the U.S. affiliate ofInternational Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. ### |
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