In an alert today, NaturalNews misleadingly writes as if potassium iodide (KI) was a panaceum against radiation:
NaturalNews Insider Alert ( www.NaturalNews.com ) – please forward
Dear NaturalNews readers, No emergency preparedness kit is complete without potassium iodide (KI) to protect every family member from radiation. In a world where a Fukushima-style disaster could happen any day, potassium iodide is an FDA-approved supplement that’s scientifically proven to help protect your body from radiation.
Specifically, if potassium iodide is taken before exposure to a large-scale radiation event (or radioactive fallout), it will prevent radioactive isotopes from concentrating in the thyroid gland and “burning out” the thyroid (which usually leads to thyroid cancer).
This is exactly what the U.S. government hands out to its own workers for nuclear emergencies.
Click here to get potassium iodide discounted at the Natural News Store.
Nuclear explosions, reactor metldowns and accidents emit HUNDREDS of isotopes, and there is NO KNOWN countermeasure.
NaturalNews’ alert insufficiently explains that KI is only effective against ONE type of isotope, and only in thyroid, not in other organs, e.g. radioactive iodine in blood. The manufacturer’s info quoted by NaturalNewsStore is better:
KI can protect 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 cannot protect the body from radioactive elements other than radioactive iodine—if radioactive iodine is not present, taking KI is not protective.
NaturalNews’ alert spreads a false perception of radiation safety for the holders of the substance. Is it to sell more? I am disappointed with NaturalNews. Only yesterday they published an article about the quackery of present-day science…
Piotr Bein