Fear mongering, Americans and Potassium Iodide
17/03/11 18:34 Filed in: All Things Nuclear
The media frenzy over the ongoing crisis in Japan is... often very, very, poor.
Case in point: we don’t need to start self dosing ourselves with iodine. Unless you’re in Japan, I really wouldn’t worry about getting Potassium-Iodide pills, let alone actually taking them. West coast Americans don’t need them. People in cities with international flights from Japan don’t need them (ahem Chicago and Dallas). There may be a measurable increase, there may be small amounts of radiation over, but it’s far, far too little to be concerned about. On top of that, only a fraction will be radioactive iodine. Taking potassium iodide pills only protects against that one radioactive isotope.
The levels of radiation, if even measurable at all, are much too small to do anything. You’re probably getting a much larger dose from the smoke detectors in your house, the tiny dental x-rays you take, or a single airplane flight. All you’ll be doing is self medicating yourself with something that might have some health complication. And that could seriously impact your health.
And for those of you in metropolitan Chicagoland, I can offer you my own personal measurements of the radiation levels outside my house. Yes, I have a Geiger counter. Yes, it’s calibrated. Yes, it detects a wide energy range of beta, gamma, and, to a lesser extent, alpha radiation. I am happy (though not surprised) that the radiation levels in my backyard continue to average 15 count/minute. That’s what they were in January and February.
If there ever is some reasonable risk, you’ll hear about it, from reputable sources, well in advance.
Newspapers with headlines such as “PANIC” are not helping things either.
Lastly, if you’re on this side of the pond and still concerned about radiation and cancer, just stop smoking.