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Neighbors of nuke plants won't get pills
By ALEX LEARY, Times Staff Writer In what is becoming a growing controversy, the state likely will reject an offer to provide free radiation-blocking pills to thousands of people living near Florida's three nuclear power plants. Potassium iodide tablets have proved effective in preventing thyroid cancer, one of the most common effects of radiation exposure. But state officials say that it would be difficult to distribute the tablets and that they could provide a false sense of security, since potassium iodide protects against only one of the effects of radiation exposure. "People see it as a panacea," said Mike McDonald, administrator of the state's radiological emergency preparedness program. "If people think there is a magic bullet out there, then they are going to be reluctant to evacuate." McDonald, who maintains that evacuation is the most reliable course, plans to meet today with the state Bureau of Radiation about the decision to refuse the pills, offered by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Local governments and utility companies in the area of the state's three nuclear plants also oppose the pills, he said. Advocates of potassium iodide, known as KI, said the state is making a mistake by passing on a proven weapon against a common threat of radiation. "How do you defend your action if you didn't have it available and needed it?" asked David V. Becker, a nuclear medicine physician at Cornell University medical college in New York. Nuclear power is relatively safe, Becker said, "but since Sept. 11, we know things can happen any time. It's reasonable to be prepared." Bowing to pressure that has lingered since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, the NRC in December said it would buy more than 3-million KI tablets and offer them to any state that wanted them. Massachusetts has accepted the offer. Illinois, which has more reactors than any other state, and Georgia have expressed doubts similar to those raised by Florida. Many states, including Florida, have small stockpiles for use by emergency workers and people who cannot easily evacuate, such as prisoners. Providing KI to the broader population would cause numerous logistical problems, McDonald said. Would the pills be given to each household or kept in a central location? Would people know when to take the pills. Would they know the correct dosage? "Sure you have something additional you can take, but the best thing is to get people out of the way," said Mac Harris, spokesman for Florida Power, which operates a reactor in Crystal River. There are two other nuclear plants in Florida: St. Lucie, outside Fort Pierce, and Turkey Point, 25 miles south of Miami. The American Thyroid Association, which endorses legislation to distribute pills to people within a 200-mile radius of a nuclear plant, not 10 miles as the NRC suggests, agrees evacuation is the best defense, but views KI as effective. "Very clearly, every state should take the NRC up on the offer," spokeswoman Edie Stern said. "We believe the stuff really works. It's been proven." Much of what is know about KI stems from the Chernobyl accident in 1986. It was not widely used in the Ukraine and 2,000 children developed thyroid cancer, Becker said. But 17-million people in Poland received pills and that region did not experience a spike in the disease, even though a radioactive cloud descended on the area a few days after the accident. Becker said there were few side effects. Opponents of efforts to create a national stockpile say the pills can cause upset stomachs, skin rashes and, in rarer cases, joint pains, severe shortage of breath and facial swelling. Potassium iodide works by saturating the thyroid gland to the point that it can no longer absorb radioactive iodine. Even if the state does not make it available, potassium iodide can be easily purchased on the Internet for a quarter or less per tablet. The recommended dose for adults and children over the age of 1 is one tablet per day until the threat is over. The pills generally have a shelf-life of about five years. "If I asked you to design a perfect solution to a radiological emergency it would bear many of the qualities of potassium iodide," said Alan Morris, a Palm Harbor resident and president of Anbex Inc., which sells KI pills on the Internet for $10 per package of 14. "I'm baffled how a state that claims to care for its citizens could not take potassium iodide," Morris said. "They should be demanding more." Morris started the company after the Three Mile Island accident. He wanted potassium iodide for his 2-year-old son, Ben, but found it difficult to come by. Today, his company is a major supplier to local governments. As recently recounted in the Washington Post, the federal government was serious enough about KI to wake up pharmaceutical executives as the Three Mile Island tragedy unfolded, urging them to begin producing the pills immediately so they could be rushed to the reactor near Harrisburg, Pa. Although they were not needed, lawmakers made plans to create a national stockpile. But the idea never materialized and the debate has waged since, though largely out of the public realm. That changed on Sept. 11.
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