Office of Cancer Communications
Bethesda, MD 20892

Wednesday, October 1, 1997

NCI Press Office (301) 496-6641 The National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) report of its study to assess Americans' exposure to radioactive iodine-131 from nuclear testing in the 1950s and 1960s at the Nevada Test Site is now available. A summary of study findings was issued two months ago, on Aug. 1.

The report narrative with appendices, now available on the Internet, describes study methods and calculations in detail, including estimated iodine-131 exposures in each county in the 48 contiguous states following the tests.

Also on the Internet is the entire data set on which the exposure estimates are based. The data set consists of about 100,000 pages of tables which include, for example, estimated iodine-131 concentrations in cows' milk and other foodstuffs; estimated ground deposition of I-131; and estimated thyroid doses for 13 different age groups and four different scenarios of milk consumption. All data are tabulated by county, test, and test series, and an index allows users to access the infomation by either test or county.

The full report, including maps, appendices, and the data set, is available from the NCI homepage (http://www.nci.nih.gov) and from NCI's subpage for the public and the media, (http://rex.nci.nih.gov); click on "What's New" at either location to get access to the material.

NCI also has established a technical assistance helpline (1 -800-273 -7092) for county and state health officials and other health professionals. Members of the public may call the Cancer Infomation Service at 1-800-4-CANCER.