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In Reply: Dr Hoffman and colleagues suggest that uncertainties in dose estimation were not adequately accounted for in the HTDS¹ and that the failure to detect increased risk of thyroid disease may be due to methodologic problems. They also question my summary of the evidence on the relationship between iodine 131 and thyroid disease, and the contribution of shorter-lived radioiodines to thyroid dose following the Chernobyl disaster.

Regarding the HTDS, Hoffman et al provide no supporting data to indicate that taking uncertainty measures into account would change the observed absence of radiation effect to an adverse relation. These issues have been well addressed in the peer-reviewed publications that they cited.

My interpretations of the evidence were consistent with those of other reviews. Contrary to the speculations of Hoffman et al, the National Research Council BEIR VII Committee states that "although the precise quantitative relationship between radiation dose from iodine 131 . . . [Full Text of this Article]

John D. Boice, Jr, ScD
john.boice@vanderbilt.edu
International Epidemiology Institute
Rockville, Md

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