North Jerseyans left out of iodide pill program

[CabreraNY@AOL.COM]

North Jerseyans left out of iodide pill program

Tuesday, April 23, 2002

taken from the Bergen Record (Serving Northern New Jersey, Bergen Cty; wwww.bergen.com)



By BOB GROVES

Staff Writer





In the event of a nuclear disaster, residents in North Jersey should probably just head for the hills, said state officials who received thousands of free federal thyroid-cancer prevention pills for people in the rest of New Jersey on

Monday.



The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission shipped 722,008 doses of the drug, potassium iodide, to New Jersey for residents who live within a 10-mile radius of any nuclear power plant that might experience a radioactive leak in an accident or terrorist attack.



People in Bergen and Passaic counties will not get the pills, however, because the closest nuclear reactor is at Indian Point in Westchester County, N.Y., which is more than 15 miles away. But this should not put North Jersey residents at a disadvantage, New Jersey Health Commissioner Clifton R. Lacy said Monday.



"The 10-mile radius was established by the NRC as the range that has the greatest increased risk to the plume [of airborne radioactivity], and therefore the greatest need for prophylactic treatment" against escaping radiation, Lacy

said from Trenton. People living outside the 10-mile limit have "a better chance for evacuation and seeking shelter, which are the primary responses to radiological release," he said.



Those who live within 10 miles of a nuclear site should also evacuate in an emergency, Lacy said. But, the state will distribute two free doses of KI - the

chemical designation for the pills - for each adult and child living near the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Lacey Township, Ocean County, and the Salem I and Salem II and Hope Creek stations on Artificial Island in Lower Alloways Creek, Salem County.



"The use of KI is just an adjunct" to evacuation and shelter, he said. Although the pills are earmarked for specific regions, "If there were a threat or risk to any part of the state, we'd move the tablets to protect our people

from that risk," Lacy said.



Officials in Bergen and Passaic counties did not seem worried Monday about being excluded.



"We're not particularly put out that we're not on the list to get the pills because, frankly, we don't know the value of this program for Bergen County," said Thom Ammirato, spokesman for County Executive William "Pat" Schuber and for Sgt. Dwane Razzetti, director of the county's Office of Emergency Management.



"We're not in the 10-mile zone, and there seems to be some debate about how effective the KI program would be," Ammirato said. "There's also a lot of logistical problems with distribution."



Bergen County would not stockpile its own supply of KI pills "unless they could show some real benefit,'' he said. "We're certainly watching what other areas

do. But at this point, we don't think it's something we have to be concerned about." Ammirato said.



Passaic County is leaving the decision to state and federal health officials, a spokeswoman for county health officer Michael Guarino said Monday.



Guarino "has no comment at this time," Delores Choteborsky said. "Because the state Health Department has not provided his department with any information.  [Guarino's] department hopes that the federal government is doing things according to proper policy and protocol," Choteborsky said.



Lacy said it is "unclear" at the moment whether the pills will be distributed to residents as a precaution or stockpiled and handed out during an emergency, or some combination of the two. This will be decided the by Medprep - New Jersey's

Medical Emergency and Disaster Prevention and Response Expert Panel, he said.



KI acts to prevent the body's absorption of radioactive iodine, a product of nuclear fission, which can cause cancer of the thyroid, a gland at the base of the neck that secretes hormones to regulate growth in children and metabolism in

adults.



New Jersey, the 11th of 34 qualified states to ask for the pills, had also asked the NRC for an additional 145,000 doses of the drug to cover potential population growth in the state over the next five years, but the agency has not

responded to that request, Lacy said. KI, which retails at 17 cents per tablet,is also available over the counter, he said.



Each tablet gives 24 hours' protection against the effects of radioactive iodine, Lacy said. People who stay in an exposed area will need more than two pills, and those who get a radioactive substance in their system would need two

weeks' dosage for protection, he said.



"The key is to get people evacuated and to shelter -? to take the first pill and get out, or get out and take the first pill. But nobody should start to take this medication without being told to do so" by emergency authorities, Lacy

said. 



Alan Morris, president of Anbex, Inc., the Tampa, Fla.-based company that makes and distributes the pills, said it is "a fantasy" to think that people outside the 10-mile zone would be safe after a leak. Nuclear accidents, such as

the one at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union, showed that radioactive iodine can cause thyroid cancer in people 200 miles away from the source, Morris, a Denville native, said Monday.



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