Published: 01/31/2008
The pill nobody wants; Public eschews KI pills; feds to stop distribution
The Amesbury Public Health Department has potassium iodide tablets that residents have not picked up. The pills protect people if there is an accident at the Seabrook nuclear power plant. Katie McMahon/Staff Photo
Staff Writer
NEWBURYPORT - Though the state Department of Public Health has given 5,000 potassium iodide tablets to the city, only about 200 residents have picked them up, and time is running out.
"We are far from running out," Director of Public Health John Morris said. Other local communities are seeing a similar pattern: Few people want the pills.
Last week the city received the tablets, commonly known as KI tablets and has initiated a distribution program that will last until today. The pills are meant to protect people against a radiation emergency at the Seabrook nuclear power plant, which is about five miles north of downtown Newburyport.
"In the past, local pharmacies have set up distributions of the tablets. This time the public health departments are responsible," Morris said.
KI protects the thyroid gland against exposure to radioactive iodine that may be released during a nuclear power plant malfunction. It is most effective when taken prior to exposure but affords some protection when taken after exposure. It is also most effective in children but does afford protection to adults.
The public's lack of interest in the pills comes at a time when the federal government is announcing a major turn in its policy regarding KI.
Three days ago, the White House announced that it will end the five-year-long program of handing out KI tablets to the estimated 23 million Americans who live within 20 miles of nuclear power plants. John Marburger, President Bush's top science adviser, argued there are better ways for people to protect themselves - primarily by evacuating during an emergency and avoiding contaminated foods.
The move infuriated Congressman Ed Markey, D-Malden, who called it a "reckless endangerment of the American people."
Tablets are still available to the residents in emergency planning zones, which include Plum Island, Salisbury, Amesbury, Merrimac, West Newbury, Newbury, Newburyport and Byfield, though area cities and towns say response has been slim to none.
Last distributed in the fall of 2003, the tablets were set to expire last year but because of a lack of supplies, the Federal Drug Administration extended the original expiration date to 2008, saying if stored correctly, the tablets would last.
"5,000 tablets only covers 20 percent of the population, but the allotment was based on previous distribution," Morris said.
