foodconsumer.org: Some Radiation Testing Unnecessary

Some Radiation Testing Unnecessary
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admin on 08/28/2009 01:09:00
 
Rachel Stockton (rachels@foodconsumer.org)
According to the New England Journal of Medicine, diagnostic procedures that
aren't really necessary are exposing the public needlessly to high levels of
radiation.
An analysis of insurance claims revealed that of those who filed for coverage,
2/3 had undergone at least one test in which they were exposed; 1/5 of that
group had been exposed from moderate to high doses.
On the surface, any type of health care reform, whether provided by the
government or not, would need to reduce redundant radiation testing; that just
makes fiscal sense.  Delve deeper into this dilemma, and you have an ethical
problem that is two-fold.   2% of all cancers are caused by radiation, and if
the procedures are somewhat unnecessary, some cynics believe that patients may
be exposed so insurance can be billed for expensive procedures.
Dr. Rezal Fazel of Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, the message
is clear:  "Radiation is not benign.
Radiation exposure at an early age has long been established as a catalyst for
thyroid cancer later in life.  At Toronto's Mt. Sinai Hospital, 125 patients who
underwent thyroid surgery as a result of both cancerous and benign tumors were
analyzed extensively to further link radiation to the formation of those tumors.
 All patients had been exposed to radiation at least 3 years prior to their
diagnosis.
Researchers began to notice the correlation between cancer and radiation as
early as 1960, when they determined that those more likely to contract the
disease had been exposed to some form of radioactive treatment at five years of
age or younger.   It was then determined that 80% of those who developed tumors
by their late teens and early twenties were 80% more likely to have been exposed
to radiation as a result of these treatments.
The Mt. Sinai study outcomes were in line with research findings after studying
atomic bomb survivors, and those who were children at the time of the Chernobyl
incident.  Studies of cancer occurrence among those living within a certain
radius of the Nevada test site further confirm these statistics (New York
Times).
Since the early 1980s, incorporating radiation into diagnostic procedures has
increased 6 times; this certainly contributes to the fact that 4 million people
under the age of 65 have been exposed to high levels of radiation. Regardless of
who ends up footing the bill for health care reform, the health care system as
well as the individual patient will certainly benefit from more judicious
testing.