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• Reputation: 41 Q&A: 1 0 0 22 1 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Expert: 1 topic Earthquake! Follow Following 0 Jonathan Golob

  5 1 One of the elements being released from the damaged Fukushima reactor complex is a radioactive version of Iodine, called Iodine-131. This radioactive kind of Iodine was also released during the Chernobyl disaster. For people in the immediate vicinity of the leaking reactor who ate foods contaminated by the radioactive iodine, there were negative health concequences. Most people were exposed by drinking milk from cows that had grazed on grass contaminated with the radioactive iodine. Particularly for children, being exposed to this kind of Iodine can increase the future chance of coming down with Thyroid cancer. Radioactive Iodine-131 is short lived, losing almost all of it's radioactivity within about 40 days (or five half-lives of 8 days). For those in Japan, nearby the Fukushima plant, taking non-radioactive iodine helps keep the radioactive version from being absorbed. This medicine isn't perfectly safe. People can develop allergic reactions to it, and if they overdose, people can die of heart arrhythmias. For someone in the United States (including California, Washington, Oregon and even Hawaii), the amount of radioactive Iodine reaching us is (at this point) too small to accept the risk of taking the medicine. It might be wise to avoid eating iodine-rich foods that are harvested or collected from the parts of the Pacific Ocean most showed by debris from the reactors--at least until about a Month and a half after the reactor leaks are all fixed. There is a limited supply of this medicine, due to the crisis. Please do not stockpile it, and keep it from reaching those (in Japan) who really, desperately need it right now. Stockpiling Potassium Iodide right now is both unnecessary and unethical. Jonathan Golob answered in Earthquake! about 1 year ago | Report 2 comments by prompt and basmatic… 0 0 Another thing about iodine - it stopped being produced in these reactors when they turned off, basically, when the earthquake happened. There won't be much iodine even in the reactor itself within the month. prompt commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 The experts on the BBC and Al Jazeera insisted that taking iodine tablets isn't effect beyond ten miles from the incident. basmatic commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  2 0 Don't stockpile iodine unless you plan on treating lots of cuts or using it to purify water. The form needed for your body is potassium iodide and you stand to cause overdose problems if you don't educate yourself or get professional advice. Already cases of poisoning are starting to show up in the news from people convinced they need to protect themselves. Read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_iodide Russ Campbell, NWEBS answered in Earthquake! about 1 year ago | Report 3 comments by NGC1275, Russ Campbell, NWEBS, and NGC1275… 0 0 Lots of people in my southern California hometown are all up in arms because the local health food store ran out of KI. Hilarious. NGC1275 commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 Of course, the KI industry thanks everyone for this economic stimulus. Don't worry they will make more. I assume there may also be a run on aluminum foil for making all of those foil hats that are also needed. This also has the added benefit of blocking aliens from reading your mind and keeping the CIA from beaming you instructions (or is it the other way around?). Russ Campbell, NWEBS commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 I was just having this same conversation with my mother earlier this morning. NGC1275 commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  2 0 These are all great answers. Our risk does not warrant preparing in this way. A better preparation for us all is to be ready for an earthquake of similar magnitude to what we have seen in Japan and less recently in Christchurch, New Zealand. Check out the website: http://www.govlink.org/3days3ways/ Bruce Schoonmaker answered in Earthquake! about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by Russ Campbell, NWEBS… 0 0 Sage advice worth heeding. Russ Campbell, NWEBS commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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• Reputation: 1747 Q&A: 14 0 51 649 202 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 0 NGC1275

  2 0 Most credible agencies insist it's not only a waste of time, but in fact could be more danger than it's worth. Including: The California Department of Health ("Radiation from Japan is expected to be thousands of times less than daily background radiation from natural and man-made sources—like the sun, air, soil, medical imaging, and life-saving therapies.") The Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness (""CEPAR experts note that harmful levels of radiation are not expected in the United States as a result of the nuclear crisis in Japan, and thus, taking the medication as a preventive measure is wholly unnecessary.") The Washington State Department of Health ("We do not advise the public to purchase KI. It’s not an “anti-radiation pill;” it’s only helpful in very specific conditions, and protects only against radioactive iodine." - also this big chunk - "KI protects the thyroid against high concentrations of radioactive iodine, which is a type of radioactive material that is very unlikely to make it to the upper atmosphere. If it were to get in to the upper atmosphere, by the time the winds blew it from Japan to other parts of the world such as Washington, it would be at such low levels that it would pose no health threat to people. Levels would be diluted by wind and distance. Potassium iodide is typically given to people who are very near the source of high levels of radioactive iodine, such as nuclear plant workers or residents near the plant who may not be able to get out of the area soon enough after a nuclear incident. In Japan, for example, the evacuation zone is within 20 kilometers, or about 12 miles, of the plant. We’re thousands of miles away. The state Department of Health recommends against KI for people in this state concerned about radiation from the Japanese nuclear event.") Actually this FAQ is pretty good. In short, no.       NGC1275 answered in Earthquake! about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  0 0 No. There is no need to discuss it further. Free Busch answered in Earthquake! about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  0 3 I've been feeding my toddler nori just to be safe. It's super high in iodine. I eat it too. I'm not sure if it would be a high enough dose in the case of emergency though. Cedarthvader answered in Earthquake! about 1 year ago | Report 2 comments by Packeteer and Lee… 1 0 Yyou should be worried about a local earthquake much much more than nuclear radiation from Japan. If you are concerned about a disaster effecting your toddler enough to try and get iodine in the diet then you should be stockpiling food and water for the local earthquake that we know WILL happen. Packeteer commented about 1 year ago | Report 1 0 While I doubt there's any good reason not to feed your child nori, I don't think the naturally occurring levels of iodine in something like sea vegetables are going to have an effect in iodine-131 uptake. There's apparently been a run on iodized table salt in China, which also has no effect on radioactive iodine contamination. Might as well pee on a wildfire. Except, in the case of North Americans and Chinese, there's no wildfire to pee on. I mean no disrespect, but I find this "to be safe" line of reasoning to be pernicious. Putting up ineffective defenses against non-existent threats doesn't make anyone safer. Lee commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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