• Log in with Facebook Log in with Twitter Log In with Google      Sign In    
  • Create Account
  LongeCity
              Advocacy & Research for Unlimited Lifespans

Photo

Getting Potassium Iodide During a Crunch?


  • Please log in to reply
14 replies to this topic

#1 leha

  • Guest
  • 219 posts
  • 61
  • Location:California

Posted 15 March 2011 - 02:34 AM


The reason should be obvious by now. All the supplement stores have ran out, and I'm guessing the suppliers will run out, too, so I'm looking for another channel... :ph34r:

#2 niner

  • Guest
  • 16,276 posts
  • 2,000
  • Location:Philadelphia

Posted 15 March 2011 - 03:03 AM

The reason should be obvious by now. All the supplement stores have ran out, and I'm guessing the suppliers will run out, too, so I'm looking for another channel... :ph34r:

What about the web? Has the whole country sold out? I don't think it's that important unless you are really close to a source of radioactive iodine, like within 20 miles in the short term. An awful lot of the iodide on the market is too low of a dose to really get the job done, although some of it's not, if you take enough. The WHO-recommended adult dose of KI for protection from radioactive iodine is 130 mg. I've got a half a bottle of NOW KI, but that's 225 mcg of iodine, so maybe ~350 mcg of KI per pill. The whole bottle wouldn't be enough. I presume you'd take the 130 mg daily while you were exposed... Is it just a one shot deal? Someone should work out the maximum theoretical dose of radioactive iodine you could get from a nuclear accident that was thousands of miles away. Maybe they have... My guess would be not enough to matter, but that's only a guess.

#3 leha

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 219 posts
  • 61
  • Location:California

Posted 15 March 2011 - 06:13 AM

Apparently the whole country has sold out, amazing as it sounds. I guess there wasn't that much to begin with. Probably it won't be necessary all the way over here, but with the entire earthquake "ring of fire" all going off recently, and scientists in agreement that California is overdue for a big one, and with two CA reactors sitting on fault lines, well, I just thought it was a big fire drill for us Californians. :excl:

#4 maxwatt

  • Guest, Moderator LeadNavigator
  • 4,949 posts
  • 1,625
  • Location:New York

Posted 15 March 2011 - 12:40 PM

According to a physicist interviewed on TV yesterday, potassium iodide supplementation will be useless except for those in the immediate vicinity exposed to acute levels of radioactive iodine. It's half life is short, and there is no danger an ocean away. However radioactive cesium is a danger, and again not from the immediate fallout, but from foods that absorb and concentrate it, and then are eaten. This is why it is still not a good idea to eat mushrooms from eastern Europe, even years after Chernobyl exploded.

#5 leha

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 219 posts
  • 61
  • Location:California

Posted 15 March 2011 - 04:08 PM

Good points. From what I read on Wikipedia, though, they have never been able to trace any health issues other than thyroid cancer back to the Chernobyl incident. Strange, but somewhat encouraging.

I'm still thinking the immediate sell-out of KI in the US is a big sign that we are not ready for this type of event to occur here. I wonder what the shelf life of KI is? Anyone know?

#6 maxwatt

  • Guest, Moderator LeadNavigator
  • 4,949 posts
  • 1,625
  • Location:New York

Posted 15 March 2011 - 05:19 PM

Good points. From what I read on Wikipedia, though, they have never been able to trace any health issues other than thyroid cancer back to the Chernobyl incident. Strange, but somewhat encouraging.

I'm still thinking the immediate sell-out of KI in the US is a big sign that we are not ready for this type of event to occur here. I wonder what the shelf life of KI is? Anyone know?

As it's a stable mineral, I would expect it to last near forever if kept dry, at room temperature, and as a precaution, in the dark.

#7 leha

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 219 posts
  • 61
  • Location:California

Posted 15 March 2011 - 05:41 PM

Thank you! That makes sense. Good to know. I think whenever the supplies return I am going to get some and shelf it (in the dark, as a precaution :)).

#8 ajnast4r

  • Guest, F@H
  • 3,925 posts
  • 147
  • Location:USA
  • NO

Posted 15 March 2011 - 05:53 PM

first:

http://www.washingto...sd1sX_blog.html

.the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said it is unlikely that harmful levels of radiation leaking from Japanese reactors will reach any part of the U.S., including Hawaii, Alaska, and various territories in the Pacific, considering the vast distances between Japan and those areas


Dr. James Thrall, radiologist-in-chief at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and president of the American College of Radiology, who said the chances of consequential radiation exposure from Japan anywhere in the U.S. are “essentially zero.”


liff Mass, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Washington, wrote yesterday:

there is no serious radiation threat to us here in the Northwest.

even if they [wind trajectories] were heading straight for us..there is little to fear.




and then:

http://www.anbex.com/pricing.php


http://www.google.co...57722a22572de1d

Edited by ajnast4r, 15 March 2011 - 05:59 PM.


#9 Logan

  • Guest
  • 1,869 posts
  • 173
  • Location:Arlington, VA

Posted 15 March 2011 - 06:18 PM

Apparently the whole country has sold out, amazing as it sounds. I guess there wasn't that much to begin with. Probably it won't be necessary all the way over here, but with the entire earthquake "ring of fire" all going off recently, and scientists in agreement that California is overdue for a big one, and with two CA reactors sitting on fault lines, well, I just thought it was a big fire drill for us Californians. :excl:


I work at an organic market in the wellness department and we have not sold out yet. But, we did have about ten people come in on Sunday looking for any good source of iodine, including potassium iodide.

#10 Logan

  • Guest
  • 1,869 posts
  • 173
  • Location:Arlington, VA

Posted 15 March 2011 - 06:24 PM

first:

http://www.washingto...sd1sX_blog.html

.the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said it is unlikely that harmful levels of radiation leaking from Japanese reactors will reach any part of the U.S., including Hawaii, Alaska, and various territories in the Pacific, considering the vast distances between Japan and those areas


Dr. James Thrall, radiologist-in-chief at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and president of the American College of Radiology, who said the chances of consequential radiation exposure from Japan anywhere in the U.S. are "essentially zero."


liff Mass, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Washington, wrote yesterday:

there is no serious radiation threat to us here in the Northwest.

even if they [wind trajectories] were heading straight for us..there is little to fear.


They are saying there is no threat now? What if there is a complete meltdown in 1 or more nuclear reactors and a dangerous amount of radiation leaks into the atmosphere? I wonder if it is possible for some of the radiation to travel to the U.S. and then be deposited in potentially dangerous levels of radiation during a rainstorm. I'm talking about levels that would not cause immediate effects but possibly contribute to developing cancer in the long term. I don't know anything about this subject. I guess we have to rely on the experts for now.

#11 niner

  • Guest
  • 16,276 posts
  • 2,000
  • Location:Philadelphia

Posted 15 March 2011 - 07:52 PM

I wonder what the shelf life of KI is? Anyone know?

It's not very good in humid conditions; the potassium gradually oxidizes, ultimately forming potassium carbonate I think; the iodide forms molecular iodine and sublimes. If it's sealed against air exchange and kept cool, it should last "a long time", but I don't know what that would be.

Our state health department distributes KI for free to people living within 5 miles of my friendly neighborhood nuclear power plant, but I'm about 17 miles away.

#12 leha

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 219 posts
  • 61
  • Location:California

Posted 15 March 2011 - 08:15 PM

Niner: Wow--nice, at least, that you have a source.

ajnast4r: Thanks for the link and the info. Yeah, I am not super-worried about fallout from Japan at this point, but as I said, with KI so hard to find locally and quickly (especially when stores sell out so fast), it seemed like a good time to get a supply--which I hope I will never need! :sad:

MorganM: I think they are saying that in order for the fallout to reach the US it would have to get up to the jet stream first, which would require an explosion that shot radioactive material 10,000 meters up into the air. Then it would have to travel in its relatively condensed form across the jet stream 8,000 km, and then fall on us. It's not totally impossible, but certainly not likely, especially since the current radiation around the reactors is decreasing as the day goes on:

Breaking News—Japan Nuclear Power Plant Accidents and Earthquake

Also, it's encouraging to know you haven't run out in your store. :) Where are you located?

#13 leha

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 219 posts
  • 61
  • Location:California

Posted 15 March 2011 - 08:25 PM

This is kinda cool:

Crowdsourced Radiation Detection

:cool:

#14 ajnast4r

  • Guest, F@H
  • 3,925 posts
  • 147
  • Location:USA
  • NO

Posted 15 March 2011 - 08:36 PM

They are saying there is no threat now? What if there is a complete meltdown in 1 or more nuclear reactors and a dangerous amount of radiation leaks into the atmosphere? I wonder if it is possible for some of the radiation to travel to the U.S. and then be deposited in potentially dangerous levels of radiation during a rainstorm. I'm talking about levels that would not cause immediate effects but possibly contribute to developing cancer in the long term. I don't know anything about this subject. I guess we have to rely on the experts for now.


the doses you will find in stores are not suffeciant to protect against radioactive iodine... most supplement companies sell doses in the 100-200% RDA range (150-300mcg, note: micrograms). iosat and other radio-protective iodine supplements are 130mg (note: milligrams)... you wouldnt find a dose sufficient for protection in a store most likely, and unless exposure is immanent the risk of such huge doses of iodine is too great.


taking potassium iodide only would protect against radioactive iodine-131... which has a very short halflife & would be the least of your worries if you lived close to the reactor. from what ive read, the expert consensus is at our distance (im in norcal too) it would be nearly impossible for radioactive iodine to get here in significant amounts. besides that they have detection stations all over the pacific on small islands that would detect it many many days before it got here & in that case the govt would start handing out 130mg doses of k-iodide.

Edited by ajnast4r, 15 March 2011 - 08:40 PM.


#15 leha

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 219 posts
  • 61
  • Location:California

Posted 15 March 2011 - 08:45 PM

According to this article, state officials are so confident that they aren't even reading the meters:

Mercury News article

So if we want to be sure, we can use the crowdsourcing link in my above posting, or buy a spiderwort (Tradescantia sp.), which will turn pink in the event of radiation exposure. :~




1 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users