Fallout: Increase in Babies Born with Congenital Hypothyroidism After Fukushima
April 5th, 2013Via: Open Journal of Pediatrics, 2013, 3, 1-9 [.pdf]:
Large amounts of fallout disseminated worldwide from the meltdowns in four reactors at the Fukushima-Dai-ichi plant in Japan beginning March 11, 2011 included radioiodine isotopes. Just days after the meltdowns, I-131 concentrations in US precipitation was measured up to 211 times above normal. Highest levels of I-131 and airborne gross beta were documented in the five US States on the Pacific Ocean. The number of congenital hypothyroid cases in these five states from March 17-December 31, 2011 was 16% greater than for the same period in 2010, compared to a 3% decline in 36 other US States (p < 0.03). The greatest divergence in these two groups (+28%) occurred in the period March 17-June 30 (p < 0.04). Further analysis, in the US and in other nations, is needed to better understand any association between iodine exposure from Fukushima-Dai-ichi and congenital hypothyroidism risk.
Research Credit: Eileen
It could be true – however, realize that many of these new science journals with the term ‘Open’ in them have turned out to be for-profit publications that don’t conduct regular peer review. It’s the equivalent of self-publishing. Could the material be valid or true? Certainly, but this article probably did not get the approval of three peers in their field.
Naturally, regular peer review can be a tossup, where bad work somehow gets sent out for review by lazy or busy peer reviewers who just stamp it, or great work gets rejected because the author’s rivals in the field get to review it or it was too surprising (or too boring… like they conducted an experiment and couldn’t confirm a hypothesis – there is a publication bias against null results).
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/08/health/for-scientists-an-exploding-world-of-pseudo-academia.html?hp&_r=0