Utah Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch have asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to consider finding money to continue a University of Utah study examining a link between radiation fallout and thyroid cancer in “Downwinders.”
   The five-year study, which began in 1998 and has received two previous extensions from the CDC, is due to end Aug. 31. Joseph Lyon, an epidemiologist, and George White, another U. researcher, are seeking another extension to finish their study on radioactive iodine contained in fallout over southern Utah from above-ground nuclear weapons testing in Nevada in the 1950s.
   Bennett and Hatch sent a letter to CDC Director Julie Gerberding on March 14 to find out what options may be available for continuing the study.
   A March 21 letter from the CDC to Lyon indicated that there were no more resources available. The letter also indicated that a panel of outside scientists recommended against further funding for the Utah study.
   In 2002, when the CDC initially denied additional funding for the $8 million project, Lyon asked Bennett to help him get more money. By that point, researchers had spent about $2.6 million on the project.
   At the time, researchers said they needed up to three more years and an additional $4 million to finish the project. Lyon said bureaucratic delays from the CDC prevented the research team from starting to examine study volunteers in a timely manner.
   The letter from Bennett and Hatch indicated that the researchers are aiming to finish the project by 2008, which includes two more years of field work and one year for analyzing the data. The letter does not list a specific request for funding.
   "It'll be interesting to see what the response is," said Lyon, who had not yet seen the letter from Bennett and Hatch.
   In 1993, Lyon co-authored a study in the Journal for the American Medical Association that linked radiation exposure to an excess of thyroid neoplasms, which are precursors to thyroid cancer. Lyon has said that he suspects the government is trying to close his study for fear the results will show the public the extent of health problems from fallout.