Frankly, the panicked rush to buy up every single bit of potassium iodide -- in the unlikely event that a toxic radioactive plume from Japan passes over the United States -- is getting fairly ridiculous. I live about an hour's drive from a nuclear plant, and so for more than ten years, I have always kept enough potassium iodide on hand for my entire family, just to be prepared in the unlikely event of a nuclear accident or attack on the nearby nuclear facility.
But the frenzy taking place the past few days is rather amazing. I can't open up an email, or turn on a television show, without seeing a doctor, health expert, or some other self-appointed "radiation emergency" talking head spouting bad advice. Usually, it's someone who has absolutely no idea whatsoever about thyroid disease or use of potassium iodide as a radiation blocker.
Meanwhile, I have had more emails and calls from otherwise rational friends and family members who are desperately trying to get potassium iodide, or who can't get it, and therefore want to know if they can load up on iodized salt, or seaweed salad, or kelp pills, to protect their thyroid from Japanese radiation.
Yes, it really is getting this out of control.
Let's take a look at ten things you should know about protecting your thyroid from radiation.
1. All potassium iodide can do is protect the thyroid from one radioactive isotope -- radioactive iodine. It is NOT an "Armageddon pill" or a "radiation protector pill." When taken properly, potassium iodide can saturate the thyroid with iodine, and prevent it from absorbing radioactive iodine, which can prevent the increased risk of thyroid cancer associated with radiation exposure.
2. Now, about taking potassium iodide properly...It must be the proper form -- potassium iodide -- and it must be in the proper doses, and it must be taken at the proper time. That means, it must be taken in the hours before and after the radioactive plume is passing over your area. Not days before. Not days later. If you're taking potassium iodide now, and it's days before any radioactive fallout (if any) has reached you, then you are not only wasting your money, but you are potentially risking your health.
Want to know exactly how much to take, how to take it, and when? These official guidelines from the experts will help:
- Potassium Iodide (KI): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Fact Sheet
- FDA: Frequently Asked Questions on Potassium Iodide (KI)
- Department of Health and Human Services Report - Guidance: Potassium Iodide as a Thyroid Blocking Agent in Radiation Emergencies (PDF)
4. If you have had your thyroid surgically removed, potassium iodide would not be necessary to protect your thyroid against radiation.
5. If you are not in Japan, the likelihood that you will need potassium iodide in the next several days or weeks to protect your thyroid against radiation is VERY small.
6. Most experts have indicated that harmful levels of radiation from the Japanese leak are not likely to reach the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. The risk that Japan's radioactive plume will be able to not only travel many thousands of miles, but that the radiation would remain intact and no be dispersed, is, according to experts, very negligible.
7. In a radiation emergency, the risk of developing thyroid cancer is thought to justify the risk of taking potassium iodide. But if you are not directly in the path of the radioactive plume, potassium iodide will not only not protect you from anything, but it MAY INCREASE your risk of developing thyroid problems. Let's be clear about this. Potassium iodide can trigger or worsen hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, worsen existing thyroid conditions, cause conditions such as the Jod-Basedow phenomena, and the Wolff-Chaikoff effect,, and ultimately cause temporary or even permanent thyroid conditions. It can also cause sialadenitis (an inflammation of the salivary gland), gastrointestinal disturbances, allergic reactions and rashes.
8. There are three FDA-approved forms of potassium iodide: Iosat Tablets (130 mg), ThyroSafe Tablets (65 mg) and ThyroShield Solution (65 mg/ml.)
9. If you are paying more than around $20 for a bottle of potassium iodide in any form, then you are a victim of severe price gouging due to the current panic buying frenzy.
10. There are nuclear reactors located across America (See a map from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission showing where they are located.) To protect us against any future radiation emergencies that could affect you locally, you may want to have potassium iodide on hand as part of your family emergency kit. (But don't pay the currently inflated price...wait until the prices return to normal.)
Photo: clipart.com
Thank you for being a refreshing voice of reason. I get so sick of news media who have no compunctions about ratcheting up people’s anxieties to sell air time/papers/magazines.
Thanks for the specific information on how much to take and when. You feel like an idiot if everyone else is prepared for an emergency and you’re not. However, in Canada, in B.C. the government has told pharmacies not to sell potassium iodide and just says it’s not necessary at this time — but I needed to know what about if the international media/public health say potassium is suddenly necessary because of new drastic radiation. And since I am hypothyroid and taking desiccated and still not well I am particularly interested — but will not worry and try to ignore the hyperventilating media and their enjoyment of disaster — last night on CNN they were announcing a California state of emergency declared — but it was just a small port at the end of the tsunami — had nothing to do with this week and radiation.
p.s. Mary: do you have any information on spending teenage years in a uranium mining town and the results on thyroid and lungs?
My understanding is that it is difficult to absorb iodine through the air, even radioactive iodine. The biggest risk is not breathing the radioactive fallout but drinking milk. The radioactive iodine fall on the grass where cows eat it. The radioactive iodine then concentrates in the milk.
Thanks for this! I used to laugh at the bumper sticker that said, “If all else fails – panic!” It’s no longer funny.
People believe the weirdest things about nuclear energy. I work at a nuclear lab, and we’ve had a lot of official discussion in the last few days on this very subject. The chances of us getting enough radiation to cause health concerns is very small. Most of it will dissipate in the upper atmosphere, and not be a problem to us – it’s not going to come down to ground level – or even the lower atmosphere.
I wear a device that detects radiation, since I work with it every day. I’ll let you know if it goes off.
actually ur photo at the top of the page i find very disturbing in that radioactivity is very serious mama.. and unless youve already had a huge amoutn in you system you will never know how serious!
Thank you for your article. I don’t tend to overreact to this type of this but having thyroid issues to begin with made me a little more concerned. I live in Southern California. I have Hyperthyroid Graves Disease and have not used radioactive iodine as a form of treatment at this point. I was concerned about the effects the radiation would have on my already damaged thyroid, not wanting to add to my existing thyroid issues. Your article has calmed by nerves. Thank you.
What should be done in the case of having Hashimoto’s thyroid disease?
My reaction to this situation is to be wary enough to get further information from credible sources. I am happy with the information here and I won’t be rushing out to buy inflated potassium iodide – so thanks for that.
Thank you for the comment. I live in Tokyo but currently away due to the nuclear plant damage. My flight back is next week but I am quite worried about the iodine radiation. This is because I had hyperthyroid for several years and just cleared it late last year. Naturally I would like to avoid the risk of getting another thyroid problem. Happy to hear your thoughts and recommendations.
If the idea is to prevent thyroid cancer by not being exposed to I-131, why is it used to treat/kill cancer cells?
Why IS I-131 used to treat/kill cancer cells if the idea is to prevent thyroid cancer cells?
And how is it possible that this About.Com site is not reporting on the specifics of what to take for all the other isotopes being released in to atmosphere and ocean? Dr. Mercola’s and Dr. Brownstein’s sites describe this in detail, and their are YouTube videos containing the same info. It is generally acknowledged in the world press that the Japanese are being very secretive about what is happening at the four (or more) reactor site; they have a history of atrocity coverups, as do many countries; and that 600,000 spent fuel rods are being stored at the site or have already gone up in the plume. How can anyone not consider that radiation does not stay in one place and continues to circulate with winds and ocean currents pretty much forever, or that the other reactors are not necessarily safe as of March 26? The issues at hand can affect much more than the thyroid and our access to PI for those who are doing natural thyroid protocols.
The town in which I live has radiation levels in the water system that exceed normal levels (maximum is 5 I think, our water tests at 14+/-). Does this pose a danger to the thyroid also?
You may need to install the activated carbon filter in your tap water system (even on-faucet will work and change the cartrige at monthly basis).
The water is considered contaminated and unfit for use if the I-131 is 300pCu per liter or above
todays date 4-25-11/Europe has warned against milk drinking for mom/children and avoid leafy greens….US milk has high levels of radiation,so food chain already affected here.It has also been detected in los angeles water supply!
I’m in southern California,in direct path of Radiation Plum which is increasing as each day goes on.
What do u think about reverse osmosis water filter set up? or Berkey?? I have a 13 yr old daughter ..and am trying to prepare for up-comming months years of this continued radiation.
Any advice????
Thanks for the info, but it would have felt more respectful without the condescending attitude. I think that part was completely unnecessary and took away from the impact of your message.
Lucy Chesterfield, Cesium 1970 was only trying to help. Please show some respect to those who know more than you. Lucy I read no condescending attitude in Cesiums post.
Lucy, your contrabution was worthless.
Cesium 1970 thank you for all your help.
I have Hashimotos Auto-Immune Thyroiditis. I live in Japan outside the 80 km area south of Tokyo, however we are all worried about the effect this will have on our health. I asked my doctor about the Iodine pills, and he said that if I take it, I will get Thyroid cancer, in my case. Also, there will be a shortage of Thyroid medicine unless the government imports more medicine, because the main company that makes the medicine I take was destroyed in the Tsunami. This was told to me by two doctors and a Pharmacy. My country will not help me, except to direct me to purchase the medicine at 4 American drug stores in Tokyo. I do not know what will happen, but the government will have to import our Thyroid medicine quick, or a lot of people will end up dying.
I have to agree with Lucy that this advice would be better received if the attitude was left at the door. It’s getting out of hand because we are frantically trying to find reliable information, and can’t seem to find any consistent advice for existing thryoid patients, let alone the general public. I saw the attorney general one day remark that buying KI is a good idea, and then she retracted it the next day. It can be difficult to find useful info on the web if you don’t know what you are looking for, and don’t know who to trust. We trust that you will lead us to a safe response, but it doesn’t help if you make us sound like we’re fools to ask.
We are running blindly because there are no experts definitively stating how to prepare in case of an emergency, exactly what doses are being recorded in the US, or exactly what environmental fallout dose defines that magical EPA safety threshold. That info seems to be kept a well guarded secret. I’ve looked for EPA’s RADNet data, and can’t seem to find any data for my area. I live within 50 miles of some Japan style Mark 3 reactors, and within 10 miles of decomissioned reactors which store spent fuel rods. For the media to simply state that there are 13 states which have recorded “trace” amounts of the radiation detected in air and water, and that is far less than the EPA safety level, how do we know that the EPA level is safe, especially for thryoid patients? It’s not too difficult to find a US map with red and pink patches showing radiation measurements following fallout from 50’s-60’s bomb testing in the Nevada desert. If you think that those of us alive in those years were all unharmed by that bomb testing dose, and call it “safe”, I just don’t believe it. I lived in one of the red areas in the 60’s, and 3 of 4 members of my family were or are hypothryoid, and perhaps the 4th was as well.
I hear ya. Unfortunately the EPA has magically RAISED the so called safety level of INGESTIBLE and BREATHABLE radiation particles! Can you believe that?! so the milk samples(from EPA’s website) with 3000 times the allowable radiation is ‘not such a big deal’ .This is disgusting to me,outrageous.Natural News ( .com) is a wonderful up-to-date place to get info..they give links to where THEY are getting the ifo from,all reputable.Check it out. I don’t trust government on this and my concern is my natural thyroid-pig thyroid-….if cows that consume grass/hay/corn..exposed to radiation…and radiation exposure accumulates in the THYROID…seems logical that the pigs they use for my armour would contain it..??! I just wish i could get real info on it! just expect in the comming years many many cases of cancers to appear,unrealated-of course!- to Fukushima meltdown taking place.Sorry for the rant..i am just frustrated and sadden by all this .
To continue…
I’d like to find a clear and consistent instruction on what to do if you are already a victim of thryoid disease and have to face either “trace” intake of I-131 from water or milk, or if we are faced with a more epic disaster. The “safe” threshold for a thyroid patient might be less. I’ve read that harm due to fallout is less likely to result in cancer if you are older when exposed. Is that because many “older” people already have thryoid disease (possibly due to Nevada bombs?)? I don’t trust the gov’t to tell me when it’s not safe, and it will probably be too late to run to the store with shelves empty of KI if something unthinkable does happen. Yes, we are all bombarded by radiation every day, but iodine radiation that can be ingested in water or milk, which has a special affinity for thryoid tissue, that’s a whole other meatball for those of us already coping with thryoid disease. I don’t want it to get worse than it already is.
@ Jill/lucy…YEs I totally agree with you guys! This is serious and I do not believe the Govmnt playing it down….it is not to start hiysteria..but in want of proper info to prepare and do as we need for our families! i used to think “ahhh earthquake?? prepare..nahh” NOT anymore. It’s un-nerveing to see media/govmnt practically brush this off.I am in southern california by coast…and in direct path of japans windfall….not funny,indeed.
I agree with Jill and Lucy.
The tone of this post seems to parrot that of authority: “Don’t be such a bunch of chicken littles”.
Based on how the Japanese government has downplayed the risks, and so has the U.S. government, we need to find information to protect ourselves — can’t rely upon those in authority to do so.
What I’d like to know:
For Graves Disease patients that take anti-thyroid medication (but DON’T want their thyroids nuked), what are supporting supplements (other than potassium iodide) to prevent thyroid uptake of radiation.
Kelp? Spirulina? Other?
When you began your sentence about several nuclear reactors in United States , to potect your thyroid…I expected you to say get out in the streets and demonstrate against them. Demand that politicians encourage and support alternative natural sources of energy.
Such a pity that we are so brainwashed that all we can see in the future is us stacking up in pills to face the possibility of such disasters that can be avoided.
Have we really gone too far, to the point of no return?
Unfortunately my husband and I wanted to go to the States this summer.
In France we had Chernobyl and I was in the bad areas when it occured. All my family has been injured. I’m hashi…
I suppose it is the same in USA. nobody is speaking..but as I am reading your posts, I realize it may be dangerous to come even on East cost…
It is a shame; USA are such a wonderfull country. Next year, maybe. Or do you think I can bet one more time my thyroid ?
mijafrance…I would go to visit south america…Fukushima continues to release copious amounts radiation with thier reactor MELTDOWNS,worse than chernobyl-officially-…