"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/health-experts-warning-over-iodine-rush/story-e6frf7jx-1226022126886

Health experts warning over iodine rush

From: AFP
March 15, 2011 11:38PM

JAPAN'S nuclear crisis has sparked panic buying of iodine pills, with online bids exceeding $500 for a single packet, but health experts hosed down the hysteria and warned the pills are of limited use.

As fresh blasts rocked a stricken atomic plant on Japan's east coast, and crews worked frantically to cool reactors that emitted dangerous levels of radiation near the facility, jitters spread to Tokyo and beyond.

US-based firms selling potassium iodide, a radiation sickness preventative, completely ran out of stock and pharmacies across the country's Pacific-facing West Coast had a rush on the over-the-counter pills.

"We are quite slammed with orders, but we are working as fast as we can to get orders out," said NukePills.com, which had sold out of iodine tablets and was fast exhausting oral liquid supplies.

…

Can’t something be done about these vultures?

[sharp_stick]

1. You might be able to do something about

the assholes selling the stuff but unfortunately it's too late to do anything about the morons willing to pay for it.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. I think the “assholes” help to create the “morons.”

They partly generate their market through deceptive advertising.

[KansDem]

5. Yeah, you see? I knew right away you were trying to fool me!

50 cents a bottle? I wouldn't pay more than 45 cents, so there! :P

Fool me once shame on you; fool me twice...I can't get fooled again!

[denem]

3. Pets.com

au contraire ;)

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. I don’t think they misjudged the intelligence of the American public.

I think they misjudged their own business acumen.

[AtheistCrusader]

6. Actually, there have been studies about the absorption of iodine being as effective through the skin

as taken orally.

Also
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7829615
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8108021

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. …although that is not particularly relevant

The question is whether there is any point in Americans taking iodine at all in this situation.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002658.htm
http://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclides/iodine.html#protect
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/03/15/134533079/why-iodine-tablets-come-out-when-radiation-threatens

I'm no nuclear fan (far from it) but, personally, at this point, I think there's a greater danger of Americans inducing iodine poisoning than the risk from radioactive iodine.

If you are worried about radioactive iodine, I suggest you avoid drinking cow and goat milk for a while.

And, really, in the worst case scenario here, radioactive iodine is far from the worst threat.

[AtheistCrusader]

8. Sure, true enough.

Not something you want to be guzzling for no reason. We probably have days before any could possibly reach us anyway. Then 4-5 days afterward for it to get into the milk supply, if it comes.

[GliderGuider]

9. It's not a shortage of intelligence, it's a longage of fear.

You can't blame people for being human.

Fear has always made people act irrationally. The only known antidote is INFORMATION. That commodity is in shorter supply than KI tablets at the moment.

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. Re: It's not a shortage of intelligence, it's a longage of fear.

To me a hallmark of intelligence is the ability to overcome instinctual behaviors.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42095558/ns/health-health_care/

Demand for potassium iodide spikes; nukepills.com is there

North Carolina man corners market on pills that protect the thyroid against radiation

msnbc.com
updated 3/15/2011 7:55:12 PM ET

In the five minutes it takes to ask Troy Jones about a sudden shortage of potassium iodide pills to prevent radiation sickness, the North Carolina owner of http://www.nukepills.com already has logged nearly two dozen more orders.

“I’m now getting one every 30 seconds,” said Jones, 46, who has sold out of more than 50,000 doses of pills and liquid in days in the wake of fears of potential nuclear fallout from Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Despite expert assurances that nuclear radiation won’t reach the shores of America, demand for potassium iodide has swamped the stocks of all three manufacturers or suppliers approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for use in the U.S.

Anbex, Inc., of Williamsburg, Va., sold out of IOSAT pills on Monday. Fleming & Co. Pharmaceuticals, of Fenton, Mo., which makes ThyroShield Solution is scrambling to make more. And Recipharm AB, the Swedish firm that makes lower-dose Thyro-Safe tablets estimates it will take weeks to replenish its stock.

…

(Emphasis added)


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0316-california-radiation-20110316,0,6401831.story?track=rss

Japan radiation risk to California is downplayed

Health officials say there is no threat at this time because of the distance nuclear radiation would have to travel. But that is not stopping some from taking their own precautions.

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times

March 16, 2011

Within days, nuclear radiation released from Japan's damaged Fukushima reactors could reach California, but experts say the amount that makes its way across the ocean should pose no danger.

"What we're being told is that there is no threat to California at this time," said Mike Sicilia, a spokesman for the California Department of Public Health. "It's a matter of distance. Dangerous radioactivity could not cross the 5,000 miles of the Pacific without petering out."

The reassurances came as California and federal health officials opened hotlines to field questions about possible radiation risks. Environmental Protection Agency officials, who monitor radiation levels in air, milk and precipitation, said Tuesday that they plan to send additional staff to the Western U.S.

Potassium iodide pills — used to prevent the body from absorbing radioactive iodine — have sold out at numerous stores despite warnings from health officials that the pills were unnecessary and could even have harmful side effects.

…