People Don't Need To Take Potassium Iodide

[Chickadee]

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb121/chickadee42/bellinghamHeraldLogo2.gif[/img]]The Bellevue Herald:

 

Major suppliers of pills that provide protection from radiation say they're out of stock due to panic buying, even though experts say that the Japanese nuclear catastrophe poses no health threat to West Coast residents.

 

Those experts include Dr. Greg Stern, Whatcom County health officer, who said Wednesday, March 16, that people shouldn't be taking potassium iodide as a precaution against radiation poisoning.

 

That's because no significant radiation is expected to reach the West Coast from Japan, and the medicine can be harmful to some people, according to Stern.

 

Potassium iodide, or KI, is used when people are at risk of exposure to high levels of radioactive material, health officials said.

 

People have been calling the Whatcom County Health Department, doctors and pharmacies the past few days asking for potassium iodide.

 

"Hopefully, the demand for it has gone down with more information about what the actual risks are," Stern said.

 

Even if there was a massive release of radioactive material in Japan, the local health department said it would be so diluted by distance - roughly 4,800 miles - and wind and rain that the amount that reached here would not likely cause health problems.

 

Still, the state Department of Health continues to monitor air, water and milk for radioactive material.

 

The state Department of Health participates in RadNet, the nationwide radiation monitoring program coordinated by the Environmental Protection Agency.

 

Elsewhere, health food and supplement stores in southern Puget Sound reported products of anything containing iodine or potassium iodide, whether in kelp, supplements or tablet form, was gone.

 

In Lakewood, Super Supplements ran out of its iodine supplements on Friday, and by Tuesday only had a couple of blended thyroid formula products that contain minute amounts of potassium iodide, sales associate Danielle Flynn said.

 

"There's definitely a concern," Flynn said. "We've had tons of people calling in and coming in since the reactor had problems."

 

The inventory situation was much the same at Good Life Health Foods in Olympia. Since Friday, owner Brad Joslin said the store had received some 500 calls from people seeking iodine or other products reputed to lessen the impact of radiation exposure.

 

He said he's spent 16 hours on the phone and Internet, trying to find suppliers with stock.

 

Across the country, Troy Jones, president of nukepills.com in Mooresville, N.C., said he has sold 6,500 orders of iodine pills in the last four days. In a normal four-day period, he said he'd sell only 100.

 

He said most of the orders came from customers in Washington, Oregon and California who want to protect themselves from Japanese radiation.

 

But Jones said he knew his product wasn't needed by his West Coast customers for the Japanese explosions.

 

"I think it's unnecessary," he said. "It's necessary for people to stockpile potassium iodine on a normal everyday basis, have it in your emergency kit, but I do not believe it will be needed on the West Coast for the events that are happening in Japan."

 

Most experts in atmospheric science say very little radiation could end up in the U.S.

 

"Even though the winds are blowing radiation out into the Pacific, they're (thousands of) miles from the U.S.," said Thomas Tenforde, president of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.

 

"Plumes of radiation are going to get dispersed pretty widely. They're not just going to travel in a straight line to North America," he added.

 

"It's unlikely, even worst case, that there would be significant health effects for people," said Ed Lyman, a physicist with the Union of Concerned Scientists global security program and an expert on nuclear plant design.

 

Lyman added: "No amount of additional radiation is a good amount, but I would think that would not be significant or anything for the U.S. to be concerned about."

 

[Saltbag]

They should say that you shouldn't take it if you're not effected, which they aren't. Taking KI pills won't kill you (unless you're hypersensitive), but you have to process all that. Why put your kidneys, etc. through that when there's no point?

[clearvision]

Some people sit on crates of this stuff. Of course it is only good for 6 or 7 years, so that is alot of upkeep.

[NCTexan]

I just ate an extra order of French fries with extra salt...

 

... can't ever be too prepared when it comes to your health!

 

[Saltbag]

Bad news is that's a suppository for nuclear exposure.

[clearvision]

I'm not sure what thread to post it on...

 

What the hell is going to happen when we have a terrorist dirty bomb attack? Seems we can't deal with radiation levels at a malfunctioning nuke plant. There is no team in the world set up with equipment to move quickly to a highly radioactive area and carry out cleanup/work activities? So we get hit with a city center contaminated and we have no plan, no equipment, suits, vehicles, robotics, decontamination process? It is has been a week and we have fire trucks showing up to spray down a reactor?

[Rheo]

But, but, but, I'm running in circles trying to get some iodine cuz the media has hyped it so,..

 

What, they were wrong????

Dang.

Jack and coke save me now.

[clearvision]

The first readings from American data-collection flights over the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan show that the worst contamination has not spread beyond the 19-mile range of highest concern established by Japanese authorities.

Latest news.

[Pepper]

Where is this hysteria coming from???

Click on pic to find out

 

 

[Pepper]

clearvision

 

That was always the main issue with the terrorists. Frightening to contemplate.

[NCTexan]

I saw a variation of this headline and picture across the top of a newspaper yesterday.

 

Is this "making" or "reporting" the news?