Health Tips - Radiation Risk
It is a good thing to be prepared for potential problems that planet earth can throw at you. If you live in California, you can use this site to find out which natural disasters are common in your zip code to prepare for.
As far as man-made disasters, nuclear plants leak radioactive iodine 131 into the atmosphere. Nuclear disasters, such as Three-mile Island in USA and Chernobyl in Ukraine released huge quantities of iodine 131 into the atmosphere. When bodies are short on natural iodine, which most are, they uptake this iodine instead.
Taking 150 micrograms of iodine 127 daily, you are likely to be protected from iodine 131 uptake. This can be done by eating 5-10 grams of seaweed daily. As few people can easily do this, we offer a product Modifilan ($29 for 90 tablets) that was developed to make this easy. Forty pounds of seaweed is needed to make one pound of Modifilan.
While you can take potassium iodide pills, these can have harmful side-effects, especially on thyroid function. There is even a potential that they can cause birth defects. Do not actually take the potassium iodide unless health officials are certain that the radiation is about to reach your area. This is not potassium gluconate! The FDA-approved doses of potassium iodide are as follows: infants less than 1 month old, 16mg; children 1 month to 3 years, 32 mg; children 3 years to 18 years, 65mg; adults 130mg.
It is important to listen to government health officials to find out the severity of a radiation leak to see how much of it might actually reach your area. As far as recent Japanese earthquake-damaged nuclear plants, Tony VanCuren, an atmospheric scientist with the California Air Resources Board, said it would take a "catastrophic release" of radiation to carry dangerous levels across the ocean, and even then it would take five to 15 days for particles to reach California. California Department of Public Health officials have advised anyone with radiation-related questions to call (916) 341-3947.
Regular seaweed or Modifilan could be your best defense.
Dr. Pepi
March 16, 2011