Looks like some Americans have been popping the KI pills and suffering from side effects. As has been mentioned by the authorities and folks here on ETS, there's no need to be taking them at this time anywhere in the US.

Here's an MSNBC article about it.

Can you blame them? The fear mongering media made it sound like the end of the west coast was already happening. I have to admit as soon as I heard about japan my preparing Phobia jumped alittle to high and I began wondering about buying some PItabs but slowly I calmed down and went back to normal prep duty getting a few simple things here and there.

a little off thread, but will pass it on anyway... I've become somewhat addicted to the "Food Channel" as I like to cook, and like the texture of kosher salt... I purchased without looking at the label... and it is not iodized... many of the specialty salts are not... better start checking the labels

Yep, we use Sea Salt and while it may have some form of iodine in there, it isn't iodized. Takes a lot of iodized salt to have a significant effect.

Since it's extremely unlikely that radiation will reach here in any dangerous amounts, why would anyone want to check the ingredients of their table salt? It's either a problem and needs to be treated with the proper materials, or it isn't a problem.

The approved dose of iodine in table salt is 150 micrograms per day. The medically-prescribed dose of Potassium Iodide is 130 mg, about 866 TIMES the daily dose of iodized table salt.

Sue

I have a question.

Would it ever be considered helpful to take a "test dose" of KI, say, half a normal dose, to test whether or not you have a bad reaction to it?

In the event that KI pills are needed then that seems like a really bad time to discover that they make you ill.

Then again, there's also the reasoning that if you're going to get ill from KI may as well do it when it'll actually do some good.

Just wondering if anyone else has thought of this.

Id ask your doctor first befor testing any form of meds you question. Not only will he be able to inform you on your own personal risk it will give him a heads up if he says yeah sure do it and it infact has negative effects.

I posted the comment, not in response to the need for potassium iodide, but a comment on the medical requirements of the need for dietary iodine, hence the comment "a little off thread"...I have reduced my dietary intake of table salt (NaCl) for health reasons, and overlooked the need for trace amounts of iodine added to iodized salt when I switched to kosher salt for its texture...I do realize the difference between micrograms and milligrams...I taught Stoichiometric calculations for 30 years

Any time you take any medication (or any substance at all, for that matter) there is the possibility of side effects. Generally, one doesn't go around consuming pills just to check their body's reaction.

When a doctor takes your medical history, you will be asked about previous allergic reactions. A history of allergies suggests the likelihood of adverse reactions to new drugs you might receive in treatment, among other things.

Right now in the North American continent, we need KI like a fish needs a bicycle.....

... besides which, there are better forms of iodine than the KI tablets if all you want is a maintenance dose. The fraction of a drop of the liquid iodine I take or the iodine in the seaweed snacks I'm fond of, or even those awful tasting brown seaweed chewables are much preferable to me. This non-experience has taught me the dose' I need from the liquid and chewables; as for the snacks I have no idea, that's just extra I suppose.