Although Los Angeles is over 5,400 miles from Japan and the risk of any life-threatening radiation spreading over across the Pacific is negligible, a considerable number of Californians are worried about radiation poisoning. Demand for potassium iodide and Geiger counters are strong.
Whatever did manage to come across the ocean would not be that harmful even at the beginning of its trip. As it dispersed along the way, anything that did reach Los Angeles would hardly make any difference. So far, American and Canadian monitoring stations have detected nothing.
Authorities along the North American Pacific coast have been trying to reassure their citizens that they have nothing to worry about. Experts say that if anything does hit the North American coast, it will be after a trip lasting four to five days.
President Obama himself stepped in and said in a televised statement:
“We do not expect harmful levels of radiation to reach the United States, whether it is the West Coast, Hawaii, Alaska or U.S. territories in the Pacific. That is the judgment of our Nuclear Regulatory Commission and many other experts.”
Online prices of potassium iodide tablets have gone up by over one thousand per cent in many cases. Some Geiger counter suppliers have run out of stocks.
Oral potassium iodide, also known as KI, is taken by people after ingesting radioactive iodine when there is a nuclear accident, an attack at a nuclear power plant, or a nuclear bomb has been detonated. It is not to be taken by people over 5,400 miles away from a leak in a faraway land. KI saturates the thyroid gland, thus preventing it from absorbing anything else, such as radioactive iodine. It reduces the risk of eventually developing thyroid cancer.
However, KI has its own risks, which are far greater than any benefits for those on the West Coast of America.
Some people in Canada and the USA think iodide and iodine solution are the same thing, they are not. Iodine solution can be harmful if ingested.
Dr. Howard Backer, interim director of the California Department of Public Health, and Mike Dayton, acting secretary of the California Emergency Management Agency, issued the following statement:
“The safety of all Californians is our highest priority, and we are in constant contact with the federal agencies responsible for monitoring radiation levels across the West Coast.
We want to emphasize that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have all stated that there is no risk expected to California or its residents as a result of the situation in Japan.
We are actively monitoring the situation in Japan and are ready to take all steps necessary to protect Californians should risks develop.
We urge Californians to not take potassium iodide as a precautionary measure. It is not necessary given the current circumstances in Japan, 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 including abnormal heart rhythms, nausea, vomiting, electrolyte abnormalities and bleeding.
Our thoughts are with the people of Japan at this tragic time.”
Dr. Perry Kendall, British Columbia’s Provincial Health Officer, said:
“Based on present information, we do not expect any health risk following the nuclear reactor releases in Japan, nor is the consumption of potassium iodide tablets a necessary precaution. Small amounts of low level radiation released from the nuclear reactors in Japan will have been dispersed in the atmosphere there and are not a health risk to British Columbians.
Modelling of possible scenarios suggest that any release into the atmosphere of nuclear particles would take five to six days to reach British Columbia, by which time it would be so dispersed as to be not considered a health risk.
As a result of the terrible tragedy, emergency officials in British Columbia remain in constant contact with Health Canada, the lead department responsible for co-ordinating Canada’s nuclear emergency response. The BC Centre for Disease Control, provincial and federal governments as well as Washington State and international authorities such as the World Health Organization continue to monitor the events, including radiation levels. To date, there have been no reports of nuclear particles from the facility in Japan reaching the west coast of North America.
It is recommended that pharmacies do not dispense or stockpile potassium iodide tablets. Some pharmacies are reporting a run on sales of iodide tablets, which can protect the thyroid gland from the impact of being exposed to high-levels of radioactive iodine 131.
The consumption of iodide tablets is not a necessary precaution as there is no current risk of radiological I131 exposure. Even if radiation from Japan ever made it to British Columbia, our prediction based on current information, is that it would not pose any significant health risk.”
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Written by Christian Nordqvist