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Politics & Government

Small Demand for Nuclear-Related Drug in Dixon

Also, it's not available in two pharmacies here

Media coverage of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northern Japan has mentioned that potassium iodide pills may be distributed to people living and working in that area. The pills help prevent thyroid cancer by preventing radioactive iodine (one of the common byproducts of atomic explosions and accidents) from being absorbed by the thyroid gland.

This media coverage has prompted some residents of Northern California to try to purchase potassium iodide pills as a precaution in case some of the radioactivity from Japan is blown across the Pacific Ocean and endangers people here.

I asked two Dixon pharmacies if people had tried to purchase these pills locally. At the CVS pharmacy along First Street, pharmacist Kelly (who declined to give her last name) said four or five people over the last several days have asked if the pills (commonly in a 130-milligram size for adults) were available. They weren’t, she said. Kelly said she thought California was too far away from Japan to have a radioactive fallout problem. “I told them that the pills were available online,” she added.

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At the Safeway pharmacy, pharmacist Jamie Caluya said she understood that approximately two people had come in asking about potassium iodide pills. Again, they were told the store doesn’t carry them. “If people intend to take these pills, they should consult with their doctor before doing so,” she said. She added she’d heard from her counterpart at a Vacaville Safeway store that many more people had asked for the pills there.

There have been media reports that radioactivity from the damaged nuclear power plant is being borne by winds, and that a small amount may reach Alaska’s Aleutian islands today and may reach Southern California by late Friday.That would be a minuscule amount, barely detectable by sensitive instruments.

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Nevertheless, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is setting up some additional monitoring stations in California, Hawaii and Alaska, “… out of an abundance of caution,” said Jonathan Edwards, director of the EPA’s radiation protection division.

A statement from California’s Department of Public Health and Emergency Management Agency stated, “We urge Californians to not take potassium iodide as a precautionary measure. It is not necessary given the current circumstances in Japan, (and) it can present a danger to people with allergies to iodine, shellfish, or who have thyroid problems, and taken inappropriately it can have serious side effects ….”

Robin Cox, Health Education Manager for Solano County’s Public Health department in Fairfield, said she’s only aware of media inquiries about wind-borne radioactivity and potassium iodide pills. She advised consulting with one’s physician before taking the pills.

In actuality, many already consume potassium iodide daily when iodized table salt is sprinkled over foods. Potassium iodide is mixed with the salt to provide a very small amount of iodine, a necessary nutrient often provided by seafood (including kelp) as well.

Potassium iodide tablets are stockpiled near nuclear plants in the U.S. as a precaution against the accidental release of radioactive iodine 131. To be effective, a pill has to be taken every 24 hours, according to Scientific American online.   

The Rancho Seco nuclear power plant operated for a time 65 miles east of Dixon in the town of Herald. Beginning operations in 1975, it had a serious system failure in 1978 and was closed in 1989 due to a public vote. Currently only two nuclear power plants continue to operate in California: PG&E’s Diablo Canyon operation near San Luis Obispo and Southern California Edison’s San Onofre plant between Los Angeles and San Diego. Both facilities are located next to the ocean, where that water is used for cooling purposes.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday, “We get 20 percent of our energy right now in the United States from nuclear power.”

Following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine in 1986, the worst on record, it was shown that potassium iodide tablets taken did help prevent thyroid cancer in children and adults living in areas as far away as 300 miles.

But California is over 5,000 miles from Japan. California’s Department of Public Health emphasized that, “At present, the (U.S.) Nuclear Regulatory Commission says Japan’s nuclear emergency presents no danger to California.”      

 

 

 

 

 

 

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