Save the KI in HI

I have been reading a lot of posts on the interwebs telling people to take iodine, specifically potassium iodide. Now, there are lots of factors regarding radiation and how far it travels, what it travels through, etc. If there is a local need for potassium iodide, then we will be notified. The younguns are the first to get it, and the timing of taking it is important.

So, please don’t deplete the supply any more. Save it for the little ones, and the ones ACTUALLY exposed. Taking it too long before exposure won’t help you.

Potassium Iodide Supplies Running Low. (taken from ASHP Daily Briefing)

The Wall Street Journal (3/15, Rockoff) reports that as concern over nuclear meltdowns in Japan sparks concerns of potential radiation contamination, US supplies of potassium iodide are running low at some manufacturers. Anbex, for example, sold out of its supply of over 10,000 14-tablet packages this weekend; and although Fleming Pharmaceuticals still has supplies of the drug, co-owner Deborah Fleming Wurdack, expects the company to run out this week.

CDC Provides Fact Sheet On Potassium Iodide. The Los Angeles Times (3/15, Brown) “Booster Shots” blog reported, “In this fact sheet, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explain that the body needs iodine — in a nonradioactive form — to make thyroid hormones, which regulate metabolism.” Absorbing “radioactive iodine-131, which is present in the steam released from failing power plants like the ones in Japan, can cause cancer.” The human body cannot differentiate “between stable and radioactive iodine,” but taking stable iodine tablets can “protect the thyroid from injury by ‘filling up’ the gland — thus preventing it from taking up radioactive iodine.”

Related Articles

• Panic Buying: Stocks Of Potassium Iodide Exhausted In U.S. (mountainrepublic.net)
• Fear of radiation sickness sparks run on potassium iodide (globaltvbc.com)
• Some Hawaii Residents Fear Radiation Fallout (KITV.com)