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Are you buying Iodine?

Are you buying Iodine to protect yourself if Japan's reactor's meltdown?


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From what I gather, most likely not even all of the people in Japan will need any Iodine pills - let alone people here in the US.

No, I should have been more specific, and also to note that taking iodine DOES have side-effects and so don't take it unless radiation gets higher...

Unless all the information sources are lying, I, living in Pennsylvania, am probably getting more radiation here at work sitting in front of an LCD screen with a couple hundred server towers and such across the room, than I would be getting standing on a beach on the west coast of the USA.

Here's the difference : Those are two different types of radiation, and also there's a difference between external radiation and ingesting or inhaling radioactive stuff... I mean, radiation that might be equivalent to a minor x-ray can turn into several deep chest x-rays worth of radiation by the time your body has processed it.

Though, I'm not the expert and can't tell you what to take and when, I'm mostly just saying that it's usually prudent to be prepared. The way our system operates is that if everyone demands something it runs out before the demand ends.

So far though, it SEEMS as though the radiation is still low... but I'm not convinced that the readings reported were of anything more then the first explosion which only had a small radioactive leak... NOT the several other BIGGER explosions that came afterward in the following days.

However, now that I'm aware iodine can help, I may research it a bit and buy some, since I DO live only 40ish miles from TMI, and I DO work in Harrisburg 5 days a week, so I might as well be ready...but I'll probably just forget I ever typed this inside 30 mins from now.

iodine can ONLY protect you from the radioactive iodine released... NOT the laundry list of other toxic materials. Mind you most of that stuff will probably just land in the oceans, which is bad enough, but at least the human cost will be kept to a minimum.
 
:eek: Ok so I'll get iodine, a Geiger counter, a containment suit and isolation unit if I can find it in stock.
 
I live in Riverside County, CA. where a Trace amount of radiation was detected. However as promised by the scientists it was somewhere between tens of thousands to a million times less than an amount that could cause any problems.

The side effects are too scary to be going around falling for the media hype that is trying it's best to gain ratings by over reporting a problem that isn't there, or should I say here.

If this becomes a problem we will be told in plenty of time to protect out thyroids.

By the way that is the only benefit from these pills. Yhey do nothing about any other form of cancer caused by exposure to radiation.
 
I bought some Plutonium, just in case of Iodine poisoning.
 
:eek: Ok so I'll get iodine, a Geiger counter, a containment suit and isolation unit if I can find it in stock.

Ya, I tried to say, it's not at the point where you need to get carried away... but the sources where we SHOULD be getting updated information are not being very forthcoming.

I live in Riverside County, CA. where a Trace amount of radiation was detected. However as promised by the scientists it was somewhere between tens of thousands to a million times less than an amount that could cause any problems.

The side effects are too scary to be going around falling for the media hype that is trying it's best to gain ratings by over reporting a problem that isn't there, or should I say here.

If this becomes a problem we will be told in plenty of time to protect out thyroids.

By the way that is the only benefit from these pills. Yhey do nothing about any other form of cancer caused by exposure to radiation.

The REAL issue is when you get those radioactive particles in your body that you become exposed, and while you body CAN process radioactive iodine, it can't necessarily process other radioactive isotopes.

And yes, the iodine pills are ONLY to protect your thyroid... nothing more.

How is this such a harshly black and white issue here???

It's either : "Oh there's nothing to see here" or "OMG RUN FOR THE HILLS!!". No, this is a shade of grey, there needs to be a level of concern

Edit : CONCERN... NOT PANIC. And consult a doctor before taking the iodine pills... find out radioactive readings for as close to your locality as possible if you have any concerns... but don't come to me if you abuse the pills in a panic and wind up burning out your thyroid for future use.
 
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First source that study.

:shrug: it's part of the DOE, DTRA, NRC, NISA, and IAEA briefs that I read twice a day every day. On top of the reporting that I get from Sendai, USFJ, PACOM, JDIA, JGSDF, and all the OSINT.

THEN you MIGHT have an actual point.

i have an actual point. specifically i have the correct point. specifically because of the two of us, one of us currently has the job of breaking down precisely this topic every day, and that person (and it is not you) reads the radiation charts, plots the collection points, and compare/contrasts it to the levels of radiation you recieve in a given day.

The fact is the only medical use of radiation (that I'm aware of) are x-rays

that's perfect then. a regular chest X-Ray is about 200 u Sv. you are exposed to around 2,000 u Sv every time you take an international flight. most folks pick up 2,400 mSv in a given year (that's 2,400,000 u SV); that's your baseline. to give you an idea of how low even that number is, the current safety threshold for workers at the Fukushima plant is 2,500,000 u Sv / hour. (or 21,900,000,000 u Sv per year). they've pulled out a few guys for radiation treatment, but those guys were measuring around 1,300,000 u Sv to 1,700,000 u Sv; and the act was an abundance of caution measure.

oh. a u Sv is a microsievert, which is a thousandth of a millisievert (mSv), which is a thousandth of a sievert (S) which is the equivalent of a gray(G).....

look, here, take a look at the numbers yourself: Rad Pro Calculator: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) you can have a good time plugging in the amounts found anywhere beyond a 50 mile radius from the Fukushima plant and calculating how many centuries it would take you - recieving constant exposure to that amount - to be harmed.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this might also help.


:pinches bridge of nose:

from your link: the concentration was "less than a millionth" of what was found in European countries in the wake of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster that spewed radiation over a large distance... "We thus conclude that there is no reason to worry about radioactivity levels in Iceland, nor anywhere in Europe, resulting from the nuclear accident in Japan," said Sigurdur Emil Palsson, head of emergency preparedness....

look, this is a problem for people in Japan. personally, i think at least a couple of those reactors are probably shot, and will need cementing. but you might as well start wearing tin foil hats "just to be on the safe side" as buy iodine pills in california as a response to this.
 
:shrug: it's part of the DOE, DTRA, NRC, NISA, and IAEA briefs that I read twice a day every day. On top of the reporting that I get from Sendai, USFJ, PACOM, JDIA, JGSDF, and all the OSINT.

i have an actual point. specifically i have the correct point. specifically because of the two of us, one of us currently has the job of breaking down precisely this topic every day, and that person (and it is not you) reads the radiation charts, plots the collection points, and compare/contrasts it to the levels of radiation you recieve in a given day.

that's perfect then. a regular chest X-Ray is about 200 u Sv. you are exposed to around 2,000 u Sv every time you take an international flight. most folks pick up 2,400 mSv in a given year (that's 2,400,000 u SV); that's your baseline. to give you an idea of how low even that number is, the current safety threshold for workers at the Fukushima plant is 2,500,000 u Sv / hour. (or 21,900,000,000 u Sv per year). they've pulled out a few guys for radiation treatment, but those guys were measuring around 1,300,000 u Sv to 1,700,000 u Sv; and the act was an abundance of caution measure.

oh. a u Sv is a microsievert, which is a thousandth of a millisievert (mSv), which is a thousandth of a sievert (S) which is the equivalent of a gray(G).....

Ok, so... no source... radiation is suddenly good for you in smaller doses... but you can't show a source, not even one that's over my head so I can see it's not just an empty claim.

Second, as I pointed out REPEATEDLY. The first wave of radiation that's being detected going around the world is ONLY from the FIRST days... where there was the 'small' explosion... where the pressure wave dissipated at, I estimate, 1000-1500 feet (the towers in the frame are 1000 ft)

Since then, there's been SEVERAL mre explosions, and SEVERAL of them have been LARGER then the initial one where people are getting the 'super-low readings'...

Next, You're correct that I'm not an expert, but I get that itch real quick when I can see that someone is not being forthcoming, being manipulative or outright lying, and quite simply, when they are now talking about 'neutron beams' being witnessed coming from the plants, yellow rain, etc... To me, that spells a cover-up.

That said, what's detected in iceland, NOT ONLY is it the first day of radiation released that's getting detected (when the containment was still supposedly at 100%), this is also the same levels of radation that have been dispersed around half the globe already, which implies some dissipation and all.

Furthermore, I've been saying that the levels detected are not near 'panic time'.. I've explicitly said that panic would be worse then the fallout.

Also, have you not noticed that beyond that initial reading, there's NO MORE reported on the radiation?? If there are reports I've yet to see a number... just "oh it's low, it's safe". Well, it'd be nice to have access to the real readings.

look, here, take a look at the numbers yourself: Rad Pro Calculator: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) you can have a good time plugging in the amounts found anywhere beyond a 50 mile radius from the Fukushima plant and calculating how many centuries it would take you - recieving constant exposure to that amount - to be harmed.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this might also help.

:pinches bridge of nose:

from your link: the concentration was "less than a millionth" of what was found in European countries in the wake of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster that spewed radiation over a large distance... "We thus conclude that there is no reason to worry about radioactivity levels in Iceland, nor anywhere in Europe, resulting from the nuclear accident in Japan," said Sigurdur Emil Palsson, head of emergency preparedness....

look, this is a problem for people in Japan. personally, i think at least a couple of those reactors are probably shot, and will need cementing. but you might as well start wearing tin foil hats "just to be on the safe side" as buy iodine pills in california as a response to this.

Ok, but I still don't see that you're making any distinction between getting that chest x-ray and when that one radioactively charged particle that you inhale giving you an equivalent of 1/20th chest x-ray every __ seconds until your body processes it and you pass it through. And then the bio-accumulation of such radiation going from, a fish eating contaminated fish and bioaccumulating, and then you eating that contamination, then drinking a glass of contaminated water, when there is more cloud dropping down because the leaks are continuing and / or worsening...

But instead we just get the one reading... it's almost like if there's a hurricane coming and you take the wind reading while it's still off the coast and it tells you 'ok, the wind is 40km/h now, oh this hurricane will be safe'... but then neglect to mention anything about the actual HURRICANE.

BTW, there are some estimates that over a million people died from diseases related to chernobyl meltdown in the 25 years after the fact, and as I've said before, a saving grace that might keep that number lower for this event is that the radiation must at least cross one ocean before being an exclusive japanese issue.

Even in Chernobyl, when there was the 'yellow rain' that japan has seen, back then they claimed that it was 'pollen water'... and so kids played in the puddles by the time the truth came out those that were hurt, well, it was too late for them.

I don't get the tinfoil hat reference... and I wish you guys would actually understand nuance.... this is painful... I mean, it's like telling me that I'm stupid for having a spare tire on my car... COME ON!!!
 
Just noticed how you left out the chemotherapy radiation in your analysis...

care to go over a bit of that??
 
Just noticed how you left out the chemotherapy radiation in your analysis...

care to go over a bit of that??

:shrug: chemo is serious rads. as i understand it, basically they are betting that it will kill the cancer before it kills you, but i haven't studied it so i really can't comment.

however, to help you out, as i was going through the unclassified press releases today from above-mentioned alphabet soup types, i saved a couple of notes for you to peruse. i'll see if i can attach them.
 

Attachments

  • Millirems_chart.ppt
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well that didn't work at all; the files are too dang big. alright here:

TEPCO : Press Room | Press Releases

Fukushima Nuclear Accident Update Log

NISA - Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency

if you are so sure that in the US ya'll should be worried, spend some time on these sites here "so you understand the situation and are ready". you might be interested to learn that many of those explosions you cite are deliberate.

No, I'm NOT saying to be worried... because honestly, there haven't been ANY radiation detectors that have shown any significant increases in radiation. That said, the longer this drags on the more radiation gets expelled...

In this case the majority of the fallout is landing in the oceans, and so there's not going to be the same extent of health problems beyond Japan...

The nuclear industry DOES have a motivation in downplaying the extent of these problems though, so that must be factored in as well.

Preparedness is NOT the same thing as 'worry'. My grandparents didn't keep six months of reserve food in the basement because they FEARED that there would not be food on the shelves, they did it because in the off chance that something DID happen to the food supply that they would be better able to weather the storm.

Explosions at the plants deliberate?? I'd have to take your word on that one.
 
yes, bleeding off excess hydrogen is necesssary to reduce pressure build-up; however hydrogen explodes. better to have several smaller controlled explosions than one large uncontrolled one.

TEPCO absolutely has a vested interest in downplaying the damage, and they and the japanese have been doing so to one degree or another. however, this is the 21st century, and their ability to do so is severely hampered by the presence of the IAEA, the NRC, the US Military and various ISR assetts.

i'll be honest; if i lived on the northern half of the main island I would purchase iodine tablets under precisely the logic you are describing. but doing it in the US is.... well, my earlier analogy is still good; its like ducking and weaving as you leave your house in case any of the rounds from our shooting range over here have managed to fly across the pacific.
 
Ok, you're starting to see my point a little better...

yes, bleeding off excess hydrogen is necesssary to reduce pressure build-up; however hydrogen explodes. better to have several smaller controlled explosions than one large uncontrolled one.

I could believe that for the first explosion... the one with a pressure wave that dissipated around 1000ft (app height of the towers in the frame). The reactor 3 explosion a few days later, I don't really care if you were the person that planned it out... I would still be forced to believe what I saw and that was (even if I went as far as believing it was intentional) went up far bigger then could have been intended.

Other scientists in a nuclear area of expertise have pointed out that even that fukushima 3 reactor was not entirely powerful enough to blast very much into the jet stream.... which is the condition where the US would be more seriously impacted.. afterall, even though Japan is a pacific neighbor there's still a lot of pacific between.

TEPCO absolutely has a vested interest in downplaying the damage, and they and the japanese have been doing so to one degree or another. however, this is the 21st century, and their ability to do so is severely hampered by the presence of the IAEA, the NRC, the US Military and various ISR assetts.

But even these other groups you mention ALSO have a vested interest in protecting the image of nuclear powers safety... which is about comparable to an airline where suddenly every plane in the sky might have simultaneous engine failures and crashes. THen to come out and say "we had a good run of 25 years since that's happened". Really, only the nuclear industry could get away with such things.

i'll be honest; if i lived on the northern half of the main island I would purchase iodine tablets under precisely the logic you are describing. but doing it in the US is.... well, my earlier analogy is still good; its like ducking and weaving as you leave your house in case any of the rounds from our shooting range over here have managed to fly across the pacific.

I hear you here... and that's most of what I've been trying to say. If you're in Japan. especially within the 150-200k of the plant itself, especially south easterly... not only should they be taking the iodine pills, they should do their best to get to the south / western areas of the country (even Tokyo, from what I hear, will probably find itself with an increased cancer rate)...

In the US, the readings are still in the 0.0X USi range, and while I still say that having iodine as part of a preparedness kit COULD be prudent, NOT to take them at this point... the most concerned people should be is to be taking iodine supplementation through food. foods like kelp and a variety of nutritional supplements have iodine that is at levels to be helpful for health reasons, but NOT for defensive reasons.
 
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No, we have not bought any iodine aside from what comes in the salt we buy. No need to panic.
 
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