In July 1973, a study at the University of Chicago linked radiation treatment in childhood to a variety of diseases, including thyroid cancer. A few months later, a worker at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago found a registry of 5,266 former patients treated with radiation during the 1950s and 1960s. Hospital officials decided to contact these patients and arrange for follow-up medical examinations. Media coverage of Reese's campaign had a snowball effect, prompting more medical institutions to follow suit and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to launch a nationwide campaign warning the medical community and public about the late effects of ionizing radiation"--