Breast cancer and heart disease

Although doctors used to say that radioiodine is not dangerous because its short half-life (aprox. 8 days), in fact the short half-life means that most I-131 taken into the body will decay in the body rather than being excreted. It also means a lot of radioactive decay of I-131 within the thyroid gland, releasing unavoidably molecular-destructive gamma radiation to nearby cell molecules.

Besides, if we think about the fact that it takes about 18 minutes for all the blood in the body to pass through the thyroid gland, we can suppose that these gamma bombs can hit literally any cell in the body.

Prof. Gofman has published another book titled, "Radiation from Medical Procedures in the Pathogenesis of Cancer and Ischemic Heart Disease"

Regarding ischemic heart disease, he says that "Medical radiation, received even at very low and moderate doses, is an important cause of death from Ischemic Heart Disease; the probable mechanism is radiation-induction of mutations in the coronary arteries, resulting in dysfunctional clones (mini-tumors) of smooth muscle cells".

Isn't it ironic? Docs pushing towards RAI used to tell their patients they are at risk for heart attack if they don't zap their thyroids. Experience shows that palpitations and all the rest can be easily controlled and reversed with ATDs, with no harm for the heart, while having RAI means damaging coronary arteries. This seems to be a lot more serious, doesn't it?

If there is one person in the world who is able to shed light on the subject, it is Professor Gofman. He is a world authority on radiation and health. Radiation, lipids, and heart disease have been under his focus for a long time.

His background is impressive. Some of his credentials:

-He is Professor Emeritus of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California at Berkeley.

-He is also on the faculty at the University of California Medical School at San Francisco (UCSF).

-Ph.D. (1943) in nuclear/physical chemistry, with his dissertation on the discovery of Pa-232, U-232, Pa-233, and U-233, the proof that U-233 is fissionable by slow and fast neutrons, and discovery of the 4n + 1 radioactive series.

-Gofman completed medical school (1946) at UCSF, where the faculty and his classmates selected him to receive the annual Gold-Headed Cane Award for having the qualities of "a true physician."

-In 1947, following his internship in Internal Medicine, Gofman joined the faculty at U.C. Berkeley (Division of Medical Physics), where he began his research on lipoproteins and Coronary Heart Disease at the Donner Laboratory. At the time, only two types of blood lipoproteins were known: Alpha and beta. By devising special flotation techniques with the ultracentrifuge, he and Frank T. Lindgren and co-workers at the Donner Lab began to reveal (1949-1950) the great diversity of very-low-density, intermediate-density, low-density, and high-density lipoproteins (VLDL, IDL, LDL, HDL) which truly exist in the bloodstream.

Their work on the chemistry of lipoproteins (e.g., the cholesterol-rich and triglyceride-rich varieties), and on dietary experiments, and on epidemiologic studies, soon produced evidence that high blood levels of the LDL, IDL, and VLDL lipoproteins are a risk-factor for Coronary Heart Disease.

-In 1954, Gofman received the Modern Medicine Award for outstanding contributions to heart disease research. In 1965, he received the Lyman Duff Lectureship Award of the American Heart Association, for his research in atherosclerosis and Coronary Heart Disease. In 1972, he shared the Stouffer Prize for outstanding contributions to research in arteriosclerosis.

-In 1974, the American College of Cardiology selected him as one of twenty-five leading researchers in cardiology of the past quarter-century.

-In the early 1960s, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) asked Gofman to establish a Biomedical Research Division at the AEC's Livermore National Laboratory, for the purpose of evaluating the health effects of all types of nuclear activities. From 1963-1965, Gofman served as the division's first director and concurrently as an Associate Director of the full laboratory. Then he stepped down from the administrative activities in order to have more time for his own laboratory research on Cancer and chromosomes (the Boveri Hypothesis), on radiation-induced chromosomal mutations and genomic instability, and for his analytical work on the epidemiologic data from the Japanese atomic-bomb survivors and other irradiated human populations.

By 1969, Gofman and a Livermore colleague, Dr. Arthur R. Tamplin, had concluded that human exposure to ionizing radiation was much more serious than previously recognized.

Because of this finding, Gofman and Tamplin spoke out publicly against two AEC programs which they had previously accepted. The AEC was not pleased and by 1973 de-funded Gofman's laboratory research on chromosomes and Cancer.

He returned to teaching full-time at U.C. Berkeley, until choosing an early and active "retirement" in order to concentrate fully on pro-bono research into human health-effects from radiation.

His 1981, 1985, 1990, 1994, and 1995/96 books present a series of findings.

His 1990 book includes his proof, "by any reasonable standard of biomedical proof," that there is no threshold level (no harmless dose) of ionizing radiation with respect to radiation mutagenesis and carcinogenesis --- a conclusion supported in 1995 by a government-funded radiation committee.

His 1995/96 book provides evidence that medical radiation is a necessary co-actor in about 75% of the recent and current Breast Cancer incidence (USA) --- a conclusion doubted but not at all refuted by several peer-reviewers.

To end up, nothing better than Professor Gofman's words:

"I feel that at least several hundred scientists trained in the biomedical aspect of atomic energy --myself definitely included-- are candidates for Nuremberg-type trials for crimes against humanity through our gross negligence and irresponsibility."

"Now that we know the hazard of low-dose radiation, the crime is not experimentation -- it's murder."