Environmental Agents Trigger Autoimmune Thyroid Disease/ Medscape

From the Medscape report from the American Thyroid Association Meeting:

Multiple genetic and environmental risk factors can trigger autoimmune thyroid disease in humans, according to experts here at the American Thyroid Association (ATA) Spring 2010 Meeting.
Gregory A. Brent, MD, professor of medicine and physiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles, presented the findings.
He reported that "genetic background accounts for about 70% of the risk for autoimmune thyroid disease. The remainder is likely related to a range of environmental triggers."  [So if you have a family background of autoimmunity, you are generally at higher risk for developing thyroid disease after certain exposures, including vaccines.  Mandating vaccines for people from such families genetically discriminates against them, as they are at much higher risk of a severe adverse reaction than people from families without autoimmune disease.--Nass]
A number of toxicants affect iodine uptake and thyroid hormone synthesis, metabolism, binding, and action, he explained.
He noted that among the more common agents that affect thyroid metabolism are perchlorates (a rocket fuel additive), thiocyanates (a compound in cigarettes), and dioxins (a class of pesticides). Few studies assess how these agents affect humans, he added.
"The problem is that most of these thyroid toxicants have been identified in vitro and in animal models. The significance for humans is much more difficult to assess," said Dr. Brent...

The thyroid is influenced by toxicants. Researchers know very little about their effects in humans. These compounds include polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and bisphenol A (BPA).

Autoimmune hypothyroidism has been shown to be a consequence of vaccination in dogs.  Many Gulf War veterans and anthrax vaccine recipients have developed thyroid disorders, usually hypofunction but also Graves' disease and thyroid cancers.  Raw thyroid cancer rates in servicemembers before and after receiving 1-3 anthrax vaccine doses revealed that cancer rates tripled after vaccination.  See tables G1-G3 of the IOM report.