Thyroid radiation doses from fallout

Absorbed doses of radiation from fallout, when averaged over yearly periods and over large numbers of individuals, have usually been assumed to be well below the corresponding doses from natural background sources. Although this assumption may be valid for most body organs, it is unlikely to have been valid for the thyroid glands of the average infant and child in the United States. The purpose of this note is to point out that for the last few years such thyroids probably have received an annual radiation dose (chiefly, from the beta-rays of radioiodine) that is approximately equal to the annual dose which they receive from natural background radiations.