Tech

How iodine pills can — and can’t — help fight radiation


As unsatisfied about Officials in Kyiv say Russian nuclear sword officials have grown increasingly concerned about the safety of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Iodine drug distribution to help protect residents against possible radiation exposure. In neighboring Poland, the government is also implementing Free iodine tablets are available. Likewise, in Finland, The pharmacy is running out of medicine after the country’s health ministry advised households to buy them in an emergency.

Such measures are preventive, but they can also put people in danger. Google searches for “potassium iodide”—a natural iodine that can resist some effects of radiation—spiked in late February shortly after the Russian invasion Ukraine and are tends to increase again. The war has also caused panic buying in some European countries, including Belgium, France, Bulgaria and Czech Republicalthough the intelligence experts have gone to great lengths to point out – though US President Joe Biden commented on the alarmist– there is no indication that Russia is planning to use nuclear weapons. Likewise, although the situation in Zaporizhzhia is very precarious after two recent blackouts, as of October 14, backup power has been restored.

Just because you can go online and stock up on iodine pills, doesn’t mean you should. And in countries where they are distributed for prevention, it is important to understand what drugs can and cannot do. First, the pills contain potassium iodide, which is not an antidote to all forms of radiation exposure. In addition, they can only protect the thyroid gland – the small, butterfly-shaped gland located in the neck.

Power plants and nuclear weapons rely on a process called fission, or the splitting of atoms into pieces, to produce large amounts of energy. During a nuclear attack or factory explosion, one of the radioactive substances released is iodine-131, a dark purple gas that can be absorbed through the skin or inhaled. When it enters the body, it is absorbed by the thyroid gland. This gland is very good at absorbing iodine, as natural iodine is needed for the production of necessary hormones. But exposure to the radioactive version damages the delicate organ and increases the risk of thyroid cancer.

Children are at the highest risk of contracting the disease. After the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl power plant in 1986, there was a marked increase in cases of thyroid cancer in children and adolescents in the years following the disaster. (ONE study 35 years later found that radiation-related gene mutations, however, are not passed on to future children of those who have been exposed.) The risk is much lower in people 40 years of age and older, and World Health Organization and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Potassium iodide is generally not recommended for that age group unless the expected radiation dose is very high.

Iodine pills prevent the thyroid gland from absorbing radioactive iodine by filling it with regular ones — the gland can only absorb so much at once, and it can’t tell the difference between the two . “The human thyroid gland has a finite capacity for iodine. “That means when you encounter radioactive iodine,” said Edward Geist, a policy researcher on nuclear energy and war at the RAND Corporation, a Washington-based think tank. you’ll be less able to absorb it in your thyroid, and you’ll get a much lower dose with this iodine in your system.”

news7g

News7g: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button