Radioactivity From Japan

Radioactivity From Japan
FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT: The nuclear reactors in this plant are damaged and are leaking radioactive materials. (JIJI Press/AFP/Getty Images)
3/16/2011
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/FukushimaNuclearPlant-110047647.jpg" alt="FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT: The nuclear reactors in this plant are damaged and are leaking radioactive materials. (JIJI Press/AFP/Getty Images)" title="FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT: The nuclear reactors in this plant are damaged and are leaking radioactive materials. (JIJI Press/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1806695"/></a>
FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT: The nuclear reactors in this plant are damaged and are leaking radioactive materials. (JIJI Press/AFP/Getty Images)
As of March 14, three of the four reactors in the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear plant in Japan have exploded. The dangerously damaged state of the reactors, including cracked containment shields around reactors No. 2 and No. 3 and fire in reactor No. 4, is increasing the threat of radiation escaping and spreading.

Spent radiation rods, even more radioactively active than the ones in use, were blown up when the roof was blown off the reactor. (Prisonplanet.com/newly-released-images-show-devastated-nuclear-reactors.html)

Japan is already dispensing potassium iodide to its citizens to protect their thyroids from radioactive iodine. The thyroid must be saturated with non-radioactive iodine before exposure or within 6 hours of exposure to 50 rems or more of radioactivity.

Children under 18 and fetuses in utero are most at risk because their cells are dividing quickly and vulnerable to DNA damage.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website (bt.cdc.gov/radiation/ki.asp) posted the following: “Adults older than 40 years should not take KI [potassium iodide] unless public health officials say that contamination with a very large dose of radioactive iodine is expected. …

“[They] have the lowest chance of developing thyroid cancer or thyroid injury after contamination with radioactive iodine. They also have a greater chance of having allergic reactions to KI.”

Dosages, risks, and side effects are also found on the CDC site.

Although the media is telling everyone there is nothing to worry about and don’t bother with the pills, U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin said, “It was right to be prepared.” Her advice contradicted Kelly Huston of the California Emergency Management Agency, who said, “People don’t need to buy the pills.” (Newsone.com/nation/casey-gane-mccalla/surgeon-says-ca-residents-are-right-to-prepare-for-radiation/

Many people have already bought up all the potassium iodide they could find. Supplies are already gone from major sources. Stockpiles were sufficient for populations within 10 miles of U.S. reactors, not for radioactive clouds coming across the ocean.

Potassium iodide is an over-the-counter supplement. Failing that, there is Lugol’s solution, a prescription item, and also kelp or kelp powder, a natural substance.

There is unsettling evidence that pollution from Asia does reach United States. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the California Air Resources Board discovered lead from China’s smokestacks in air currents over the West Coast.

Other studies in previous years have found that Asian pollution is cyclical, and more comes over to the West Coast in the spring. Right now, March 16, there is a strong wind over the Pacific.

The actual amount of radiation being blown over is not known, but another strategy is to stay inside. Today, radiation on the West Coast is found to be two to ten times that of the East Coast. (Politifi.com/news/Gamma-radiation-levels-on-West-Coast-2-to-10-times-levels-on-East-Coast-1759480.html)

Before increasing your iodine intake, please check with your physician.

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