Thyroid disease in women is linked to non-stick chemicals, study finds

A raised serum concentration of an industrial chemical known to be toxic in laboratory animals is associated with thyroid disease in the human population in the United Sates, say researchers based at the UK’s Exeter University.

Reporting their findings in the February issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives (http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/home.action), the researchers say that women whose blood concentrations of perfluoro-octanoic acid were in the top quarter (≥5.7 ng/ml) were roughly twice as likely to have thyroid disease as those in the bottom quarter (≤4 ng/ml) (P=0.002). Thyroid disease is commoner in women than men, and although men showed a similar trend the difference in their case was not significant.

Perfluoro-octanoic acid …