Treatments for Nuclear Contamination
Iodine –Glutathione – Natural Chelation – Clay – Baking Soda

It is too early to call everyone in North America to prepare for a radiation cloud streaming down radioactive particles from the accident in Japan. According to the media and government, America is not at risk due to radioactive fallout from the recent Japanese nuclear accidents in several reactors but that could change in a heartbeat as authorities race to combat the threat of multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns. Nuclear plant operators are working frantically to try to keep temperatures down in several reactors crippled by the earthquake and tsunami, wrecking at least two by dumping sea water into them in last-ditch efforts to avoid meltdowns.

Now, just hours after writing this above paragraph we get a report in the New York Times indicating that even best case scenarios include radioactive releases of steam from the crippled plants could go on for weeks, months or even years. So prepare we must. "Pentagon officials reported Sunday that helicopters flying 60 miles from the plant picked up small amounts of radioactive particulates — still being analyzed, but presumed to include Cesium-137 and Iodine-121 — suggesting widening environmental contamination. More steam releases also mean that the plume headed across the Pacific could continue to grow," printed the Times.

The incident is a reminder that preparedness should include being prepared for nuclear events with foods and medicinals in our medical cabinets that will protect us and our families as much as humanly and medically possible. Many people in Japan and elsewhere around the world that live and work close to nuclear plants will be seriously affected by nuclear accidents. When a meltdown happens the effects can be carried thousands of miles by the prevailing winds.

It is unclear how far the impact of a meltdown might reach. In the United States, local communities plan for evacuation typically within 10 miles of a nuclear plant. However, states must be ready to cope with contamination of food and water as far as 50 miles away. When it comes to risks and toxic exposure levels we can count on the government and medical officials to understate the threat. This is something consistent in their approach to all types of toxic exposures.

Besides having iodine on hand for emergencies, we can grow (and, at present, purchase) herbs and foods that prevent our bodies from storing radioactive particles. Some of these foods and herbs even remove radioactive particles from our bodies. As we are all already being affected by radiation released by numerous sources, eating these foods and doing detoxification and chelation protocols regularly is a good idea.

If you have been exposed to too many X-rays or CAT scans, if you fly too much, work with diagnostic medical equipment or are environmentally sensitive and have ingested elevated levels of radioactive contaminated food, air or water, you also want to partake of the following protocol on a regular basis.

Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda)

The oral administration of sodium bicarbonate diminishes the
severity of the changes produced by uranium in the kidneys.

The kidneys are usually the first organs to show chemical damage upon uranium exposure. Old military manuals suggest doses or infusions of sodium bicarbonate to help alkalinize the urine if this happens. This makes the uranyl ion less kidney-toxic and promotes excretion of the nontoxic uranium-carbonate complex. The oral administration of sodium bicarbonate diminishes the severity of the changes produced by uranium in the kidneys. So useful and strong is sodium bicarbonate that at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, researcher Don York has used baking soda to clean soil contaminated with uranium. Sodium bicarbonate binds with uranium, separating it from the dirt; so far, York has removed as much as 92 percent of the uranium from contaminated soil samples. I started writing about baking soda after discovering that the United States Army recommends the use of bicarbonate to protect the kidneys from radiation damage.

Sodium bicarbonate can safely remove paint, grease, oil and smoke residue, decreasing workers’ exposure to harsh chemicals and eliminating much of the hazardous waste associated with other cleaners. “Sodium bicarbonate is able to clean in areas where other substances pose fire hazards, because baking soda is a natural fire extinguisher,” says Kenneth Colbert, a general manager for Arm & Hammer. This is the reason it’s used by oncology centers to control chemo agent spills and it’s actually used intravenously to protect patients from the hazardous toxicity of chemotherapy.

“Uranium is one of the only metals that get significant bonding from carbonate. Just flushing a lot of bicarbonate through the system, along with whatever kidney support you are going to use, will be very helpful,” writes Dr. Chris Shade. There is no better therapy for radiation sickness then intense sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and magnesium baths with the appropriate clay added in. Even sodium thiosulfate can be added to these baths and that instantly neutralizes any chlorine in the bath water while simultaneously providing sulfur for the vital sulfur pathways.

Bicarbonate and Nuclear Fallout

If the bombs start dropping anywhere on earth, or if you live near a nuclear plant, you will want to have a large amount of sodium bicarbonate on hand. Minimum stocks should be 25 or 50 pounds. Normally I recommend someone start with using one pound of bicarbonate in a bath but that could easily be two or three pounds in an emergency situation. It is not a joke that one can get 50 pounds of the most powerful medicines on earth for 35 bucks. You will also need a lot of magnesium salts and the very best and most penetrating of them is the magnesium chloride in the form of magnesium bath flakes. Dead Sea salt is also quite fine for this application.

Exposure to radiation causes a cascade of
free radicals that wreak havoc on the body.
Radiation decimates the body’s supply of glutathione.

Nebulization is one of the best ways to quickly increase glutathione levels as is the use of glutathione suppositories. The main cancer risk from inhaled uranium oxide and other airborne radioactive particles would be from tiny insoluble particles lodged deep in the lungs. That’s a good reason to nebulize both glutathione and bicarbonate directly into the lungs and one must wonder why governments and health officials have not sponsored this treatment.

Dr. Sarah Mayhill, speaking about uranium oxide says, “It can be inhaled by soldiers and civilians, it sticks to the lining of the lungs, it is taken up by cells of the immune systems and gets into lymph glands, bone, brain, hormone producing glands, ovaries and testes. It stays in these organs for many decades and is only very slowly excreted in urine.” Nebulization transdermally treats the lung tissues allowing for best effect on contaminated lung tissues.

I have had the pleasure through the years to learn from some of the most intelligent doctors and scientists about heavy metal chelation and the opening of detoxification pathways. The individual who wins the Nobel Prize in the area of chelation, the scientist with the greatest genius, especially when it comes to mercury chelation, is Dr. Chris Shade. He has developed a sophisticated detoxification system based on enhancing the natural removal of metals through the intestines.
Though his specialty is mercury, detoxification and chelation of radioactive poisons use the same pathways as mercury. He has developed three products that are effective for the removal of mercury including a liposome formula that allows us to get glutathione into the system via oral administration.

Combining his formulas with HMD (Heavy Metal Detox) from Dr. George Georgiou, another medical genius, gives us, in my opinion, the best possible medical formula to help remove radioactive contamination as long as iodine, magnesium chloride, a super food spirulina-based formula like Rejuvenate and edible clay are used as well. Rejuvenate is a powerful chlorophyll-rich formula that is easy to administer in high quantities because of its exceptionally pleasant taste. The intense levels of RNA in Rejuvenate will quickly help build up a person’s immune system and help them recover from the RNA/DNA damage caused by radiation exposure.




It is interesting to see that uranium-238 is being eliminated in the hair using the HMD protocol; to date there is no natural chelating agent known to mobilize and eliminate uranium-238 from body tissues. HMD is the only chelation product that I have seen that has actually been tested and shown to be effective for uranium toxicity.

HMD’s cilantro will move heavy metals and radioactive material out of the cells into the detoxification pathways with Dr. Chris Shade’s IMD (Intestinal Metal Detox) pulling down hard on those pathways to get the stuff out through the intestines. The internal consumption of edible clay and external clays dramatically facilitate this process. Clay baths are a very effective way of removing heavy metals from the body and increase one’s chances of survival if exposed to nuclear fallout.

Iodine

Iodine is the most obvious and important element in protecting against radiation damages. Radioactive iodine will plunge in to any and all iodine receptor cites that have no iodine in them due to iodine deficiencies. This is a serious problem because over 90 percent of people in North America, according to Dr. David Brownstein, are iodine deficient. This leaves them incredibly vulnerable to radioactive iodine, which is one of the principle forms of radiation given off in nuclear accidents and from nuclear weapons.
In as separate article are videos of an interview I did today with Dr. Brownstein and a lot of important information about iodine supplementation as a vital defense against radiation contamination and damage.

Intravenous Cocktails

In cases of serious exposure, IV cocktails with high dosages of vitamin C, magnesium chloride or sulfate, sodium bicarbonate and very pure seawater full of all the minerals necessary for life would be ideal.

Dr. David Brownstein administers a slow IV vitamin C drip—usually 25-50 gm, with minerals, and he adds 10cc of sodium bicarbonate. The addition of bicarb to the IV's made a huge clinical improvement. He also adds 1 cc of bicarb to all Myers cocktail IV's, which he says is “a great addition.”

Nutrients to the Rescue

Spirulina and chlorella have been used heavily by the Russians after the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster. And the Japanese love their miso soup and that was said to help some of their citizens survive the fallout after the Americans attacked two of their cities. This is why I recommend Rejuvenate in high doses because of its high spirulina and chlorella content and because it is like refined rocket fuel for the cells providing them with a broad range of concentrated nutrients.

Tan Koon Peng from Singapore writes: “Miso is effective for detoxifying your body of radiation. During World War II, two hospitals that were located side by side were hit with atomic radiation, in one hospital people consumed Miso and all of them survived while many people in the other hospital that did not take miso died. Miso is rich in vitamin B therefore it is suitable for vegetarians who are in shortage of vitamin B. For best results do not cook miso.”

Herbalist Brigitte Mars says, “There are a number of foods that can better help our bodies tolerate the effects of pollution. Eating lower on the food chain minimizes our chemical intake. Consuming more whole grains has a multitude of benefits. Their high fiber content binds with toxins and lessens intestinal transit time. Their vitamin B6 content nourishes the thymus gland and their vitamin E content helps the body to better utilize oxygen. The grain buckwheat is high in rutin and helps to protect against radiation and stimulates new bone marrow production. The mucilaginous fiber in seaweed helps to prevent the reabsorbing of radioactive strontium 90.

“Following the bombing of Nagasaki, a group of surviving macrobiotic doctors and their patients avoided radiation sickness by eating brown rice, miso and seaweed. They also did not get leukemia. Seaweeds also help to break down fatty deposits. High-chlorophyll foods like wheatgrass and barley grass strengthen cells, transport oxygen, help to detoxify the blood and liver as well as help to neutralize polluting elements and stimulate RNA production. Sulfur-rich vegetables like broccoli, cabbage and mustard greens combine with heavy metals and help prevent free radical damage,” says Mars.

Dr. Shade commenting on the above said, “In the last sentence Brigitte Mars, a local friend actually mentions the broccoli family. A normal misconception is restated here - namely that the sulfur compounds in the broccoli family bind the heavy metals. Actually the sulfur compounds trigger increased expression of your glutathione system, which results in both metal detoxification and free radical neutralization. The other group of food compounds that do this is the polyphenolic antioxidants - pine bark extract, green tea extract, grape seed extract, and my favorite Haritaki or terminalia chebula, an Ayurvedic fruit that is the basis for many medicines including the intestinal detoxifier Triphala. This fruit is used extensively in Tibetan Medicine where it is pictured being held by the Medicine Buddha and call the "King of Herbs". It has potent effects on the glutathione system and on expression of other intracelluar antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase. Haritaki is one of the superpowers in Clear Way. Clear Way also includes other polyphenolics such as Pine Bark extract, large amounts of liver cleansing dandelion root extract, natural iodine and minerals from fucus extract (or what is known as bladderwrack, a sea vegetable), the metal chelator and super antioxidant R-Lipoic acid, nerve protectors gotu kola and bacopa monniera, and B-vitamins 1, 5, and 6.

Research on animals indicates that curcumin (an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound found in the curry spice turmeric) may help protect against radiation-induced damage to the skin. Other research in animals shows that the herb ginkgo biloba may help shield against organ damage resulting from radiation therapy. And aloe vera is often touted as a natural remedy for radiation-induced skin changes preventing or minimizing radiation-induced skin reactions.

Mark Sircus Ac., OMD
Director International Medical Veritas Association
http://blog.imva.info

Many thanks Sky

Iodine Treatments for Radiation Exposure

After testing over 500 patients, I found that 94.7 percent
of my patients are deficient in inorganic iodine.
Dr. David Brownstein

Clearly we are just at the beginning of this disaster and very far from its end, and already it is unprecedented in scope. “If this accident stops right now it will already be one of the three worst accidents we have ever had at a nuclear power plant in the history of nuclear power,” said Joseph Cirincione, an expert on nuclear materials and president of the U.S.-based Ploughshares Fund, a firm involved in security and peace funding.

There is absolutely zero chance that this disaster in progress is going to stop now or any time soon, so precautions need to be taken right away by every citizen in the northern hemisphere that is downwind and on the track of the jet stream that will quickly carry radioactive materials first to North America then to Europe and beyond to Russia. This is all going to be much worse than people want to believe, so rush to get your iodine right now! Get your hands on whatever you can for in a few days there will be no iodine to have of any type.

Dr. Brownstein writes, “If there is enough inorganic, non-radioactive iodine in our bodies, the radioactive fallout has nowhere to bind in our bodies. It will pass through us, leaving our bodies unharmed. It is important to ensure that we have adequate iodine levels BEFORE this fallout hits.” There is some very important information about iodine below not being presented by the government or press. This is an IMVA Emergency Alert and we will be updating this document in the days and weeks ahead so check back to the IMVA blog for the most current form.

Think again, think seven times again before you leap
and start construction of new nuclear power plants.
Mikhail Gorbachev
June 2006


Though the United States, Canadian and European governments are not warning their citizens of the dangers that will drop down on them from the jet stream, this following video does a good visual job of showing what areas will be most affected. With the true size of the catastrophe starting to take shape populations downwind across the entire northern hemisphere had better start becoming concerned enough to secure supplies of iodine to protect themselves from one large part of the radioactive dangers.

Humans tolerate large doses of iodine so the very high dosages recommended for protection for radioactive iodine are not usually a problem except for those who already have serious problems with their thyroids, which is quite a lot of people considering how many are deficient in this vital nutrient. The government’s recommendation of a onetime pulse dose might perhaps be appropriate when confronted with a nuclear blast but for chronic long term exposure, which is suggested with what is in progress in Japan, calls for different formula and dosages through time.

Dr. Michael B. Schachter says, “The treatment dose when a person is iodine insufficient is generally between 12.5 mg and 50 mg daily. Preliminary research indicates that if a person is iodine insufficient, it takes about three months to become iodine sufficient while ingesting a dosage of 50 mg of iodine daily and a year to achieve that while ingesting a dosage of 12.5 mg of iodine daily.

If radiation threatens, it behooves people to start taking the highest dosages tolerable to protect not only their thyroids but also all the glandular tissues as well. Iodine protects the thyroid, breasts, prostate and ovary glands as well as other tissues in the body from radiation if present in sufficient quantities.

When treating life-threatening diseases we do not have months to fool around with low dosages. We need to zoom up iodine levels quickly. And we need to get it concentrated to certain tissues or organs. Just to give you an idea of how high iodine dosages have been taken we have to revisit the 1930s when iodine was still a universal medicine present in the U.S. Pharmacopeia and used at much higher dosages than anyone even dreams of using today.

The usual dose for treatment back then was 300 mgs (46 drops of full strength Lugol’s) to 1 gm (1000 mg, 154 drops). It is very important to realize that today’s Lugol’s is not universally the same as it was because of new federal legal requirements about concentration levels. The best company offers Lugol’s at varying concentration levels.

Potassium iodide (also called KI) is a salt of stable (not radioactive) iodine. Stable iodine is an important chemical needed by the body to make thyroid hormones. Following a radiological or nuclear event, radioactive iodine may be released into the air and then breathed into the lungs of any being breathing that air. Radioactive iodine may also contaminate the local food supply and get into the body through food or drink. In the case of internal contamination with radioactive iodine, the thyroid gland quickly absorbs this chemical. Radioactive iodine absorbed by the thyroid can then injure the gland. Because non-radioactive iodine acts to block radioactive iodine from being taken into the thyroid gland, it can help protect this gland from injury.

There will be little or no time to consult doctors and other health care practitioners to get the proper dosage. The standard dose for potassium iodide during radiation emergencies: For infants, babies and children, KI is administered for exposure of 5 centigrays (cGy) or more. For birth through 1 month, 16 mg can be administered; for 1 month through 3 years, 32 mg can be administered; for 3-12 years, 65 mg can be administered; for adolescents ages 12-18 years, 65 mg can be administered (or up to 120 mg if the adolescent is approaching adult size).

Nascent iodine, though more expensive, actually tastes and feels good while going down and is gentle enough to give to children, who do not seem to complain about its taste. My recommendation would be to use the Nascent Iodine in high dosages to both saturate the thyroid (which makes it less vulnerable to chemical and radioactive attack) while it will also knock out any contaminants already absorbed. Nascent iodine contains approximately 400 mcg per drop so 10 drops is 4 mg and 100 drops is only 40 so it’s safe to take much higher dosages than is suggested on the bottle. In fact one has to completely ignore the suggested dosages on the bottle and take some of the information below as ones guidance for dealing with threatening radiation dropping down out of the clouds that are moving along with the jet stream.

One hundred drops a day is a strong dose, but when treating life threatening diseases it would not be unheard of to use upward of 200 drops a day in divided doses, but if you get your iodine on the day the news is sounding the radiation alarm I would jump right to 100 drops or 50 drops in divided dosages for children. It is my belief that the Nascent atomic form is much more efficient than the molecular form meaning you would need less but when confronted with a cloud of radiation one wants to work beyond the speculative. Again the government is recommending a onetime dosage, which makes sense if there is no time to address iodine deficiencies.

It normal conditions it is important to remember that one should not shoot straight up to these dosage levels; rather, start at low dosages and monitor for detoxification reactions, which will be less if sodium bicarbonate and other substances are used in conjunction with it. But in emergencies involving radiation we have not the luxury of time so one has to thrust iodine levels up sharply in burst dosages.

Dr. Brownstein said he was using 200-300 mg with his prostate and breast cancer patients, and those who have metastases needing the highest dosages. He also uses both Lugol’s and Nascent reserving the Nascent for his more sensitive patients. There is also the tablet form of varying dosages (Iodoral), which is used by more than several of the iodine doctors I know.

Iodine is needed in microgram amounts for the thyroid,
milligram amounts for breast and other tissues,
and can be used therapeutically in gram amounts.
Dr. David Miller

Potassium iodide can be found in many health food stores. Combinations of iodide/iodine can be obtained from holistic physicians. Iodoral, Iodozyme HP, and Lugol’s solution are examples of this form of iodine. I prefer the Nascent iodine, especially for children, because it is gentler on the system being that it is in the atomic form making it easy for the body to convert it into the needed forms—iodide and iodine.

These onetime high pulse dosages of potassium iodine are necessary during an emergency but they do not come without some risk of side effects, which include: severe allergic reactions (rash, hives, difficulty breathing, tightness in the chest, swelling of the mouth, face, lips or tongue), black, tarry stools, confusion, fever, irregular heartbeat, metallic taste in the mouth, mouth sores, numbness or tingling of the hands or feet, skin rash, stomach pains, swelling in the neck or throat, unusual tiredness, weakness.

Endocrinologic side effects have included both hyper- and hypothyroidism. By inhibiting the release of thyroid hormone from the thyroid gland, iodide can cause goiter and hypothyroidism. This has been called the Wolff-Chaikoff effect, occurring in approximately four percent of patients and may be more likely in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Iodide may induce hyperthyroidism, called the Jod-Basedow effect, when given to patients with preexisting iodide deficiency or autonomous, “hot” thyroid nodules. Iodide can cause parotid gland swelling.

Usually, side effects of potassium iodide happen when people take higher doses for a long time but they can occur from taking the government’s recommended onetime pulse dose. The standard warning from the mainstream is that “we should be careful not to take more than the recommended dose or take it for longer than you are told,” which is only once. “Side effects are unlikely because of the low dose and the short time you will be taking the drug.” This is not good advice at all since too-low dosages will not protect one from the radioactive iodine fallout and the short time of application is absolutely out of the question when the fallout will be continuous, as it will be because of the continuous venting of radioactive materials into the atmosphere at the crippled Japanese reactor sites.

When faced with a radioactive cloud it is absolutely imperative that you take iodine, whatever iodine you can get your hands on. If the only iodine available is topical iodine that is not suitable for oral use then you should paint your body and your children’s bodies with it. Few people have ready access to the Nascent iodine so will not enjoy its ease of application in repeated measured dosages that are more gentle to the system, thus yielding fewer side effects. Because Nascent is in the atomic form (I¹), it is absorbed faster and that can also be advantageous in emergency situations. Its only downside is the expense of having to use so much of it.

Don’t Trust Governments Recommendations

Dr. John W. Gofman, Professor Emeritus of Molecular and Cell Biology in the University of California at Berkeley, has written extensively about the effort to belittle the menace of low-level radiation. People associated with the nuclear and medical industries assert falsely, “there is no evidence that exposure to low-dose radiation causes any cancer—the risk is only theoretical,” or “the risk is utterly negligible,” or “the accidental exposures were below the safe level,” and even “there is reasonably good evidence that exposure to low-dose radiation is beneficial and lowers the cancer rate.” By any reasonable standard of scientific proof, the weight of the human evidence shows decisively that cancer is inducible by ionizing radiation even at the lowest possible dose and dose-rate—which means that the risk is never theoretical.

Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling described this process as follows: “The rays of high-energy radiation are like little bullets that shoot through the body. They tear electrons away from molecules and through subsequent reactions of the molecular ions that are formed, the molecules may be broken in two, some atoms may be torn away from them, some new molecules may be formed. The dose of 500 roentgens that usually leads to death by acute radiation sickness causes about 500,000 changed molecules to be formed in each cell. If any of the special molecules [that control the process by which the cell divides] happen to be damaged by a single little bullet of radiation from a single radioactive atom, it may be changed in such a way as to cause the cell to divide much more rapidly than the other cells. This cell may then produce a colony of rapidly dividing cells, which in the course of time would outnumber the normal cells of that type. Then the human being may die from cancer—perhaps leukemia, bone cancer, some other kind of cancer—caused by the single radioactive atom that produced the single little bullet of radiation.”


Radioactive materials, plutonium in particular, affect the deepest level of
the human being—bone marrow, DNA, genetic structure, inner organs and the
deepest of emotions. The message is clear. We have created a horrific heritage.
Jeremy Sherr

Iodine will do nothing to protect a person from uranium, cesium or plutonium radiation exposure so one has to turn to my full protocoland especially to eating clay and clay baths to try to remove these other particles as fast as possible.

For the governments perspective on potassium iodide please go to the CDC site.


Mark Sircus Ac., OMD
Director International Medical Veritas Association
http://publications.imva.info
http://blog.imva.info




"Viola"

Thanks Sky, further to that

Potassium Iodide (KI)
What is Potassium Iodide (KI)?
Potassium iodide (also called KI) is a salt of stable (not radioactive) iodine. Stable iodine is an important chemical needed by the body to make thyroid hormones. Most of the stable iodine in our bodies comes from the food we eat. KI is stable iodine in a medicine form. This fact sheet from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gives you some basic information about KI. It explains what you should think about before you or a family member takes KI.

What does KI do?
Following a radiological or nuclear event, radioactive iodine may be released into the air and then be breathed into the lungs. Radioactive iodine may also contaminate the local food supply and get into the body through food or through drink. When radioactive materials get into the body through breathing, eating, or drinking, we say that “internal contamination” has occurred. In the case of internal contamination with radioactive iodine, the thyroid gland quickly absorbs this chemical. Radioactive iodine absorbed by the thyroid can then injure the gland. Because non-radioactive KI acts to block radioactive iodine from being taken into the thyroid gland, it can help protect this gland from injury.

What KI cannot do
Knowing what KI cannot do is also important. KI cannot prevent radioactive iodine from entering the body. KI canprotect only the thyroid from radioactive iodine, not other parts of the body. KI cannot reverse the health effects caused by radioactive iodine once damage to the thyroid has occurred. KI cannotprotect the body from radioactive elements other than radioactive iodine—if radioactive iodine is not present, taking KI is not protective.

How does KI work?
The thyroid gland cannot tell the difference between stable and radioactive iodine and will absorb both. KI works by blocking radioactive iodine from entering the thyroid. When a person takes KI, the stable iodine in the medicine gets absorbed by the thyroid. Because KI contains so much stable iodine, the thyroid gland becomes “full” and cannot absorb any more iodine—either stable or radioactive—for the next 24 hours.

Iodized table salt also contains iodine; iodized table salt contains enough iodine to keep most people healthy under normal conditions. However, table salt does not contain enough iodine to block radioactive iodine from getting into your thyroid gland. You should not use table salt as a substitute for KI.

How well does KI work?
Knowing that KI may not give a person 100% protection against radioactive iodine is important. How well KI blocks radioactive iodine depends on

•how much time passes between contamination with radioactive iodine and the taking of KI (the sooner a person takes KI, the better),
•how fast KI is absorbed into the blood, and
•the total amount of radioactive iodine to which a person is exposed.
Who should take KI?
The thyroid glands of a fetus and of an infant are most at risk of injury from radioactive iodine. Young children and people with low stores of iodine in their thyroid are also at risk of thyroid injury.

Infants (including breast-fed infants): Infants need to be given the recommended dosage of KI for babies (see How much KI should I take?). The amount of KI that gets into breast milk is not enough to protect breast-fed infants from exposure to radioactive iodine. The proper dose of KI given to a nursing infant will help protect it from radioactive iodine that it breathes in or drinks in breast milk.

Children: The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that all children internally contaminated with (or likely to be internally contaminated with) radioactive iodine take KI, unless they have known allergies to iodine. Children from newborn to 18 years of age are the most sensitive to the potentially harmful effects of radioactive iodine.

Young Adults: The FDA recommends that young adults (between the ages of 18 and 40 years) internally contaminated with (or likely to be internally contaminated with) radioactive iodine take the recommended dose of KI. Young adults are less sensitive to the effects of radioactive iodine than are children.

Pregnant Women: Because all forms of iodine cross the placenta, pregnant women should take KI to protect the growing fetus. However, pregnant women should take only one dose of KI following internal contamination with (or likely internal contamination with) radioactive iodine.

Breastfeeding Women: Women who are breastfeeding should take only one dose of KI if they have been internally contaminated with (or are likely to be internally contaminated with) radioactive iodine. Because radioactive iodine quickly gets into breast milk, CDC recommends that women internally contaminated with (or are likely to be internally contaminated with) radioactive iodine stop breastfeeding and feed their child baby formula or other food if it is available. If breast milk is the only food available for an infant, nursing should continue.

Adults: Adults older than 40 years should not take KI unless public health or emergency management officials say that contamination with a very large dose of radioactive iodine is expected. Adults older than 40 years 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.

When should I take KI?
After a radiologic or nuclear event, local public health or emergency management officials will tell the public if KI or other protective actions are needed. For example, public health officials may advise you to remain in your home, school, or place of work (this is known as “shelter-in-place”) or to evacuate. You may also be told not to eat some foods and not to drink some beverages until a safe supply can be brought in from outside the affected area. Following the instructions given to you by these authorities can lower the amount of radioactive iodine that enters your body and lower the risk of serious injury to your thyroid gland.

How much KI should I take?
The FDA has approved two different forms of KI—tablets and liquid—that people can take by mouth after a nuclear radiation emergency. Tablets come in two strengths, 130 milligram (mg) and 65 mg. The tablets are scored so they may be cut into smaller pieces for lower doses. Each milliliter (mL) of the oral liquid solution contains 65 mg of KI.
According to the FDA, the following doses are appropriate to take after internal contamination with (or likely internal contamination with) radioactive iodine:


•Adults should take 130 mg (one 130 mg tablet OR two 65 mg tablets OR two mL of solution).
•Women who are breastfeeding should take the adult dose of 130 mg.
•Children between 3 and 18 years of age should take 65 mg (one 65 mg tablet OR 1 mL of solution). Children who are adult size (greater than or equal to 150 pounds) should take the full adult dose, regardless of their age.
•Infants and children between 1 month and 3 years of age should take 32 mg (½ of a 65 mg tablet OR ½ mL of solution). This dose is for both nursing and non-nursing infants and children.
•Newborns from birth to 1 month of age should be given 16 mg (¼ of a 65 mg tablet or ¼ mL of solution). This dose is for both nursing and non-nursing newborn infants.
How often should I take KI?
A single dose of KI protects the thyroid gland for 24 hours. A one-time dose at the levels recommended in this fact sheet is usually all that is needed to protect the thyroid gland. In some cases, radioactive iodine might be in the environment for more than 24 hours. If that happens, local emergency management or public health officials may tell you to take one dose of KI every 24 hours for a few days. You should do this only on the advice of emergency management officials, public health officials, or your doctor. Avoid repeat dosing with KI for pregnant and breastfeeding women and newborn infants. Those individuals may need to be evacuated until levels of radioactive iodine in the environment fall.

Taking a higher dose of KI, or taking KI more often than recommended, does not offer more protection and can cause severe illness or death.

Medical conditions that may make it harmful to take KI
Taking KI may be harmful for some people because of the high levels of iodine in this medicine. You should not take KI if
• you know you are allergic to iodine (If you are unsure about this, consult your doctor. A seafood or shellfish allergy does not necessarily mean that you are allergic to iodine.) or
• you have certain skin disorders (such as dermatitis herpetiformis or urticaria vasculitis).

People with thyroid disease (for example, multinodular goiter, Graves’ disease, or autoimmune thyroiditis) may be treated with KI. This should happen under careful supervision of a doctor, especially if dosing lasts for more than a few days.

In all cases, talk to your doctor if you are not sure whether to take KI.

What are the possible risks and side effects of KI?
When public health or emergency management officials tell the public to take KI following a radiologic or nuclear event, the benefits of taking this drug outweigh the risks. This is true for all age groups. Some general side effects caused by KI may include intestinal upset, allergic reactions (possibly severe), rashes, and inflammation of the salivary glands.

When taken as recommended, KI causes only rare adverse health effects that specifically involve the thyroid gland. In general, you are more likely to have an adverse health effect involving the thyroid gland if you

•take a higher than recommended dose of KI,
•take the drug for several days, or
•have pre-existing thyroid disease.
Newborn infants (less than 1 month old) who receive more than one dose of KI are at particular risk for developing a condition known as hypothyroidism (thyroid hormone levels that are too low). If not treated, hypothyroidism can cause brain damage. Infants who receive KI should have their thyroid hormone levels checked and monitored by a doctor. Avoid repeat dosing of KI to newborns.

Where can I get KI?
KI is available without a prescription. You should talk to your pharmacist to get KI and for directions about how to take it correctly. Your pharmacist can sell you KI brands that have been approved by the FDA.

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/ki.asp

Sky in your reading do you recomend taking Iodine & Potasism Iodide or is Iodide sufficent at recomended doses?

Nascent Iodine would be my bet, but I am not an expert in this at all.

Mark's work is well respected and I would write him with this question.

We have only stocked up with NI and that will be our lot, not that we expect to have to remove and fissionalble materials from our systems here down South...

Thanks Sky, lots of good information. I will see if I can get some NI here or at least some KI. The News is saying that it is all gone, but will try and see what I can find in the smaller Drug stores.

One thing I thought about last night while watching the news channels showing how folk in Japan are being scanned for radiation contamination - why not buy my own detector? Their are numbers being shown on TV that seem small enough to not be too expensive.

Hey - it's better to know yourself imo!!

Ok - they are really available all over the place.

This is one I am going to invest in:

Dosimeter Geiger Counter



@ $168 - I think it is a well balanced scientific instrument investment ....


Vaughn does a good comparison on the whole range of gear here, with a range of prices too

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/science/geiger-counters.htm


Definitely somethink to think about, especially in this crazy world sittuation brewing now!!

I found a free ebook on surviving a nuclear disaster. I have only looked at the chapter on water, but it seems sensible and knowledgeable. However, caveat lector.

Nuclear War Survival

There seems to be a charge Rutsie can you email it to me?
Thanks

There's only a charge fo Canadians L2L ->

If you log in as an americano - you get a menu on the lhs which allows you to select every chapter of the book individually. Pretty cool...

Unless I am missing something I cannot even get to a section that let's me select Canada or America?

This info is probably covered in the above posts, but it never hurts to have multiple resources. We can always pick up pieces and put them together according to our own needs.


How to protect yourself from radiation poisoning
Thursday, April 07, 2011 by: Randall Neustaedter OMD
excerpt:

There are three simple principles involved in detoxification. The most important is chelation, or the binding and removal of metals and other toxins from the body. Second, the body has its own methods of detoxification which can be encouraged. And third, antioxidants will scour and remove free radicals that have been created by oxidative damage. Everyone can easily take supplements to produce these results and protect the body from heavy metal and radiation toxicity.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/031987_radia ... z1IqRUdoQs