Political & Elections

SLS and others who have family or who live in the potential impact area, have you seen the run on iodine tablets? Are you &/or your neighbors taking this seriously, or do you think the concern is being overblown? I think I'd be worried with  the US surgeon general recommending the purchase of the tabs.

The fear that a nuclear cloud could float from the shores of Japan to the shores of California has some people making a run on iodine tablets. Pharmacists across California report being flooded with requests.

State and county officials spent much of Tuesday trying to keep people calm by saying that getting the pills wasn't necessary, but then the United States surgeon general supported the idea as a worthy "precaution."

U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin is in the Bay Area touring a peninsula hospital. NBC Bay Area reporter Damian Trujillo asked her about the run on tablets and Dr. Benjamin said although she wasn't aware of people stocking up, she did not think that would be an overreaction. She said it was right to be prepared.

On the other side of the issue is Kelly Huston of the California Emergency Management Agency. Hoston said state officials, along with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the California Energy Commission, were monitoring the situation and said people don't need to buy the pills.

"Even if we had a radiation release from Diablo Canyon (in San Luis Obispo County), iodide would only be issued to people living within a 10-mile radius of the plant," Huston added.

Santa Clara County's public health officer Dr. Martin Fenstersheib told the Mercury News he also does not recommend getting the tablets, adding some people can be severely allergic to the iodine.

"There is no reason for doing it," Fenstersheib told the paper.

Either way, the pills are hard to get. eBay prices have skyrocketed.

 

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Surgeon-General-Buying-Iodine-Appropriate-118031559.html

 



-- Edited by Artemis on Tuesday 15th of March 2011 02:54:31 PM

This was an absolutely fascinating quick read on Japanese geography and disaster preparedness.  

It's such a horrible tragedy, that keeps getting worse. I can't believe they're having aftershocks in the 7.0 range. The reactor issues seem to be mounting too. One of the explosions at a plant could be felt as far as 30 miles away. That alone would be terrifying. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected.

My son was camping on the beach in Oahu, on the northeast corner of the island last week. He was on an alternative spring break with his college working with a conservation group. We got a call very early Friday morning from a friend asking about our son and making sure we knew about the tsunami. We didn't, and the only thing we knew was that he was camping in one of the main target areas, and it was the middle of the night in Hawaii. Visions of the kids sleeping on a remote beach, completely unaware of the possible tsunami, automatically went through my head. After two phone calls, we finally got through to him (thank God for cell phones) and learned that his group had been evacuated to a YMCA in a safe zone. He said he didn't call to let us know because he didn't want to wake us up in the middle of the night, and was going to call first thing in the morning (Hawaii time). In all the excitement, he wasn't thinking that first thing in the morning there would be mid afternoon here.



-- Edited by Artemis on Monday 14th of March 2011 07:54:42 AM

He didn't.  He went to Vegas, this weekend, instead.