Professor John Robertson OBA

From BBC Health yesterday, the above and:

Rates of thyroid cancer are increasing at a faster speed in the US than any other cancer. But what is behind this mysterious epidemic? 

Although most cases of thyroid cancer are curable, health experts are concerned by how quickly rates of the disease are increasing. According to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (Seer) database – a cancer reporting system in the United States – the incidence of thyroid cancer in the US more than tripled between 1980 and 2016, rising from 2.39 to 7.54 per 100,000 in men, and 6.15 to 21.28 per 100,000 in women. 

It’s long been known that exposure to large amounts of ionising radiation in childhood can cause thyroid cancer. In the years following the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, rates of the disease skyrocketed in children in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. One study found that amongst Japanese atomic-bomb survivors, about 36% of thyroid cancer cases since 1958 could be attributed to childhood radiation exposure.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20251114-why-are-thyroid-cancer-cases-increasing-across-the-world

Unsurprisingly given its inbuilt biases, the BBC report prefers to focus on the problem in the former Soviet Union and seems unaware of this:

Potentially fatal hypothyroidism far more common in Scotland, on the prevailing sea currents from Sellafield than in England, especially London

From the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, in October 2024, Hypothyroidism:How common is it?:

A review article notes that the prevalence of overt hypothyroidism in Europe varies between 0.2–5.3%, depending on the definition of hypothyroidism used. A retrospective analysis of General Practice data in the North East of England (n = 66,843) found the overall single-point prevalence of treated hypothyroidism was 4.5% in 2016.

A review of UK national databases found the prevalence of treated hypothyroidism increased from 2.3% (1.4 million) to 3.5% (2.2 million) of the total UK population between 2005 and 2014. There was large geographical variation of treated hypothyroidism across the UK, with London having the lowest (1.4%) and the Western Isles of Scotland having the highest (6.3%) prevalence.¹

The authors make little of the level in the Western Isles nor of its higher prevalence around the coasts of Scotland and down as far a the North-East of England, typically around 3 to 5 times that in London.

Exposure to radiation can cause hypothyroidism.²

The dominant oceanic currents around Scotland flow past the Sellafield nuclear re-processing plant, described as the most toxic in Europe.³

The presence of radiation at unacceptable levels, in the seafood gathered on the coast of South-West Scotland, has been reported in articles by former SNP MP, Alan Dorans.^{4, 5, 6}

Sources:

1. https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/hypothyroidism/background-information/prevalence/#:~:text=A%20review%20of%20UK%20national,%2C%20White%20ethnicity%2C%20and%20obesity
2. https://www.ahns.info/survivorship_intro/hypothyroidism/#:~:text=What%20are%20the%20signs/symptoms,can%20take%20years%20to%20manifest.
3. https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-marine-atlas-information-national-marine-plan/pages/8/
4. http://www.thenational.scot/news/24044180.ayrshire-radiation-highlighted-labours-nuclear-support-attacked/
5. http://www.thenational.scot/politics/24235536.study-highlights-mental-health-harms-living-next-nuclear-plants/
6. http://www.thenational.scot/politics/24175238.can-labour-prove-safety-nuclear-energy-support/