Thyroid cancer radioactive iodine causing

The nuclear explosions that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed 100,000 to 200,000 people instantaneously. Probably an equal number died later, victims of the radiation released in those explosions. Millions of people were exposed to the radioactivity released by the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The full health effects of that accident may never be known, but 31 people died of radiation sickness within a few weeks of the accident, and more than 2000 people have developed thyroid cancer through exposure to radioactive iodine released in the accident. Even low levels of radiation can cause health problems. For this reason, workers in facilities that use radioisotopes monitor their exposure to radiation continually, and they must be rotated to other duties if their total exposure exceeds prescribed levels. 

Radioactive iodine can cause thyroid problems, and help diagnose and treat thyroid problems. Long-term (chronic) exposure to radioactive iodine can cause nodules, or cancer of the thyroid. However, once thyroid cancer occurs, treatment with high doses of 1-131 may be used to treat it. Doctors also use lower doses of 1-131 to treat overactive thyroids. 

Radioactive iodine isotopes are spread as a result of nuclear power plant disasters. Especially important is with a half-life of eight days. When this iodine isotope is taken up by the thyroid gland, it causes cancer. People Kving and working near a nuclear power station are therefore recommended to have iodine tablets available and to use them in an emergency situation. The tablet s content of normal iodine is taken up by the thyroid gland and saturates it This blocks the uptake of radioactive iodine. After the Chernobyl catastrophe, the intake of dairy products enriched with iodine is of particular importance for the population of Ukraine s western regions. 

Toxicants that are ingested generally are absorbed through the small intestine walls and are transported to the liver. The liver is the main site of toxicant metabolism and is where some poisonous substances are converted to less toxic forms more readily eliminated from the body whereas other substances are converted to toxic species. Toxic species are distributed around the body by the blood and lymph system, which can lead to systemic poisoning at sites remote from the entry of the substance into the body. Bone and adipose tissue (fat) are major sites of storage of toxicants. Bone accumulates heavy metals including lead and some radioactive materials, especially strontium-90, which biochemically behaves like calcium. Radioactive iodine accumulates in the thyroid and can cause thyroid cancer. Lipophilic toxicants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), that are poorly soluble in water tend to accumulate in adipose tissue. 

When potassium iodide is taken in the recommended doses, it floods the thyroid with nonradioactive iodine, preventing the thyroid from absorbing the cancer-causing radioactive iodine, which is then excreted in the urine. 

The Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 resulted in the largest radiation exposure in recent history. The radioactive materials released contained high levels of radioactive iodine (particularly, with a half-life of 8 days), an element that accumulates in the thyroid gland as a component of thyroid hormone. Following the explosion, people were exposed to deadly radioactive materials estimated to be 100 times greater than that associated with the detonation of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima. In Belarus, thyroid cancer in children under 18 increased from an incidence of 0.03-0.05 cases per 100,000 (1986-1988 data) to more than 10 times that level (5-8 cases per 100,000) in the period 1993-2002. Increases in thyroid cancer also were noted in Ukraine, with rates going from 0.02 per 100,000 (1986-1988 data) to 5-10 times that level (1-2.2 per 100,000) over the period from 1993-2002 (Reiners et al., 2013). There is little doubt that Chernobyl radiation exposure caused thyroid cancer among children in the affected area. 

Long-lived radioactive isotopes such as cobalt-60 (>5year half-life) or cesium-137 (30-year half-life) can contaminate and render an area uninhabitable for many years. Biologically active isotopes (such as iodine-131) attack specific organs (such as the thyroid) or systems in the hiunan body, causing serious health effects such as cancer. Many radioactive isotopes are not only radiation hazards but are also heavy metals and poisons. 

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