As you can see this is advertising something called Potasidol. According to the picture we see radiation levels of 3000 rads striking Hawaii and 750 rads striking the west coast of the USA and Mexico.
According to this 3,000 rads is a radiation level at which serious injury can occur, at least in children.
This advertisement, however, is not based on factual happenings in Japan and is instead designed to simply scare you into believing that high levels of radiation is blowing toward the USA right now (I received this email yesterday) so you will buy their iodine pills.
What's worse is the web page clicking on the email brings up this: http://www.antiradiationmedicine.com/.
The idea behind iodine pills in general is that, at least for children, the thyroid can readily absorb radioactive iodine-131 from the environment. Since your body needs iodine and iodine, being in short supply in most parts of the world, will be taken up from any available dietary source. Iodine is used by the thyroid and normally the iodine consumed is not radioactive. However, in a situation where radioactive iodine-131 is present the thyroid will simply absorb that right along with the non-radioactive form (iodine and its radioactive isotopes are not distinguished by our bodies). Once inside the radioactive iodine emits beta radiation which damages the thyroid.
I have many problems with this type of "trolling for ignorant customers"...
Particularly when the intent is to profit from a specific lack of knowledge about something perceived as frightening and scary to a large portion of the population.
First off, radioactive iodine-131, which has been found in Japan and the US in minute quantities, is only one small part of the radiation danger in nuclear fallout (whether produced by a reactor accident or atomic explosion). As I have written here there are many other dangerous radioactive elements like cesium and plutonium which can be produced as well.
The levels in the US are so small that taking an airplane trip across the country exposes your body to a larger amount of radiation.
Secondly, radioactive iodine-131 has a half-life of 8 days - which means that it quickly decays - so merely waiting a long period of time - say a few weeks - means that any potential danger diminishes by half each 8 days. (So if is barely over some limit today in 8 days it will be under that limit.)
Secondly, I could not find any information on the listed site about what's actually in the pills beyond this:
- Potassium Alginate
- 100% naturally occuring KI (potassium iodide)
- Trace amounts of vitamins and minerals, including the full vitamin-B Complex
- Enzymes to help nutrient absortion
Potassium Alginate is found in seaweed - so my guess is that these pills are basically ground up seaweed.
True iodine pills, designed to prevent radiation damage to the thyroid, have very high levels of KI (Potassium Iodide) and are dangerous to take if not taken in direct response to a radiation incident. They have very high (130 mg or 65 mg) levels of KI (something like 5,000 times the recommended daily iodine requirement).
Nowhere on the linked ad site could I find anything about how much iodine (or potassium iodide) was actually in these pills.
(For those interested the US CDC says this about iodine, thyroid damage and radiation.)
Now generally I believe that most people in the world get too little iodine and that a good iodine supplement, like a 2.2% Lugol's Solution, will do a good job of correcting the deficiency. So, if you have children, you need to make sure that they are not iodine deficient in the first place. If you are not iodine deficient you are less likely to absorb radioactive iodine in the case of a true nuclear emergency.
Third, the site is designed to create the illusion that its some sort of news/health site - I guess to make you feel better about spending $40.00 USD a bottle for seaweed pills.
The bottom line here is that this appears to me to be designed to prey on the ignorance of people about radiation. My guess is the pills themselves do nothing significant in any case and therefore are basically just a tool to separate a fool from his money.
The Japanese consume the highest levels iodine per capita in the world because of their sea-based diets - which makes them the least likely to absorb radioactive iodine in the first place.
Unless the US government puts out a health warning specifically related to iodine pills I would not take these or any others designed for the purpose of protecting your thyroid.
On the other hand, iodine deficiency is a prevalent condition in most of the US so it could not hurt to take a reasonable iodine supplement like the Lugol's I mentioned above.
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