Summary

Radiation Protection

iOSAT™ is the first radiation protective tablet available to the general public. Experts agree that its prompt use would be the most effective measure available to protect millions of people who would be at risk in a nuclear accident or under a radiation threat from a terrorist nuclear weapon. These FDA approved tablets contain potassium iodide (KI) which provides virtually complete protection from radioactive iodine [ RAI ], the contaminant that causes thyroid cancer. Should RAI ever escape, the health effects would be disastrous.

It has already happened. RAI released from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident spread throughout Europe for hundreds of miles. According to the United Nations International Thyroid Project, this led to over 11,000 cases of children's thyroid cancer by the year 2000, with more expected to occur before the disease peaks in about 2010.

But investigators, including the UN, the World Health Organization (WHO), the US FDA, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and The American Thyroid Association, uncovered the following unexpected findings at Chernobyl:

Thyroid cancer was the only prominent health problem to effect the general population. Although the accident released many types of radioactive isotopes to the environment, all of the injuries (to people located more than a few miles from the reactor) were limited to just the effects of radioactive iodine. As the NRC and WHO have reported,

In other words, the use of iOSAT™ can safeguard people from most of the danger of a nuclear accident.

The accident was not local. Within five years of the accident, children's thyroid cancer began appearing throughout Europe. According to the NRC,

Others reported identical findings, with the WHO noting,

At the time of the Chernobyl accident, Soviet authorities immediately distributed large amounts of potassium iodide to people living within 30 miles around the plant in order to neutralize the radiation. This protection was effective. As shown below, only 3% of the first 750 recorded cancers took place near the Chernobyl reactor. But farther away (beyond 30 miles) almost no KI was available, and children in these areas suffered dramatically. Without KI, children's cancer rates soared, with the vast majority (as high as 97%) of the cancer taking place more than 30 miles from the reactor. Perhaps most disturbing was that 17% of the early cancer occurred more than 350 km (200 miles) distant. In Poland, the government distributed previously stockpiled KI to nearly every child, with the result that Poland, alone among the countries in the area, suffered no cancer due to Chernobyl.

Source: US NRC

As can be seen, in a serious accident, people hundreds of miles downwind of the site may require iOSAT™ for radiation protection. This fact raises serious questions about the feasibility of the government's current emergency planning strategy, which is based on the evacuation of anyone at risk. Millions of people might have to be relocated, and how this could be achieved is not clear. Worse, while trying to evacuate, people could be caught outdoors, sitting in traffic, where they would be highly vulnerable to RAI exposure and totally unprotected.