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IDAHO FALLS, Idaho, Apr 05, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- An Idaho podiatrist says he was not surprised that the federal government has ended funding for a study of fallout health effects on Utahns.
Dr. Peter Rickards said earlier studies showed thyroid abnormalities among the Utahns, and scientists from the University of Utah have been doing follow-up examinations, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has refused to continue funding beyond the $8 million spent, the Deseret Morning News reported.
Rickards, an Idaho Falls, Idaho, podiatrist served seven years on a citizens advisory committee for a CDC-funded study, the INEEL Dose Reconstruction Project -- designed to compute radiation doses to residents living near the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.
Rickards said he believed the federal government "downplay the overwhelming impact of the Nevada Test Site on Idaho and the rest of the country."
"It basically took two years," he said, "before I could see they actually had no intention of reviewing real doses."
Rickards said Montana and Idaho were hit harder than the rest of the country by nuclear fallout, even more heavily dosed than southeastern Utah, according to the 1997 National Cancer Institute that showed U.S. exposure to radioactive iodine from fallout.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International.
