Norm Cohen, They need your help up north: "No Hurry" for KI atOyster Creek

[Muckerheide <muckerheide@attbi.com>]

Regards, Jim Muckerheide





 From Adam McLean,



Posted in the Atlantic City Press on July 7, 2002 and at:

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/ocean/070702NUKIPILL_J6.html



-------------------



Neighbors in no rush to get their nuclear pill

By JIM McELHATTON Staff Writer, (609) 272-7255, E-Mail



OCEAN TOWNSHIP - People in the piney woods of Waretown listen to live

bluegrass Saturday nights in a little place named after a popular local

pair of folk musician brothers, Joe and George Albert.



On the side of the road are faded red wooden boards nailed to trees that

give the barely visible phone number for a local Sunday school.



And the local watering hole is a charming little place called the

Thirsty Mallard.



But for as much as life here deep in the woods of southern Ocean County

remains as delightful as its "piney-pickin" music, not far away sits the

Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey Township.



It is New Jersey's oldest plant, and many people in Waretown, a

working-class community, are among the hundreds of thousands in New

Jersey eligible next weekend for free potassium iodide pills in case of

a nuclear attack or accident.



So one might expect to find residents with eyes pointed north, a glass

of water in hand, waiting for those pills just in case.



But in interviews with more than a dozen residents Saturday, many said

they are choosing not to get the pills even after they are available.



They offered a wide range of reasons, including doubts about whether a

meltdown is possible as well as whether the pills would even help.



Still others had no idea the pills were being offered.



Since the federal government began offering the so-called KI pills,

which are sodium-based and help protect the thyroid from radioactivity,

a national dialogue has taken place about just how well people can be

prepared in case of a nuclear meltdown.



That talk is also happening in areas that lie outside the 10-mile

radius, which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has set for free pill

distribution, especially locally in Cape May County, where Freeholder

John Mruz proposed having that county stockpile its own supply of

potassium iodide.



The proposal was recently defeated, however, following accusations of

political grandstanding between the Democrat Mruz and the Republican

majority.



But for all the talk in Statehouse circles and other counties, Waretown,

which lies just on the edge of the ten-mile radius, is considerably less

anxious.



"People aren't in a panic. There's no crisis. There's no emergency,"

said Mruz, summing up his view of how southern New Jersey residents view

the potential threat from nuclear power plants.



"I think that's healthy. There's no need to be overdramatic or

alarmist."



Several residents in Waretown said they appreciated that pills are being

distributed in their community, but many others said they were not even

going to bother picking up their free one-day supply.



"I think that if something is going to happen, then those pills aren't

going to make a bit of difference," said Lee West, a Waretown resident

for 28 years.



West said she and her husband were also unlikely to pick up their free

supply being distributed at high schools in Ocean County next weekend.



But other residents say the state has not done enough to let people know

if the pills can truly help. Many were surprised to learn that pill

distribution throughout much of Ocean County and in Salem and Cumberland

counties would begin next weekend.



They said they had seen only sporadic mentions of where and when to get

the pills and had not received any direct mailings regarding

distribution from the local, state or federal authorities.



Sate officials say they are beginning the "public education and

distribution sessions" Saturday, in which the first of 722,000 pills

will be given out in what the officials deem a "preparedness measure and

not in response to any imminent danger or threat."



State health officials say the pills, while not a cure-all, can help.



KI is shown to be effective in preventing thyroid cancer in cases of

exposure to radioactive iodine, according to the state Department of

Health and Senior Services. If taken before or shortly after exposure,

it blocks the thyroid gland's ability to absorb radioactive iodine.



"However, KI is not a panacea. The pills do not protect the body from

other radiation-related injuries due to exposure and are only a

supplement to evacuation and sheltering, the primary modes of protection

in a radiological emergency," said Health and Senior Services

Commissioner Clifton R. Lacy, M.D. in a statement Tuesday on the pill

distribution.



Eventually, Lacy said the ten-mile radius would be doubled to include

anyone who lives or works within 20 miles of a plant.



But why residents such as Lee would decide not to bother appears to have

less to do with availability than perceptions of how likely a meltdown

is at the Lacey Township plant.



The plant has been a constant presence here and in other working class

communities in Ocean Township, and many residents have ties to people

who make their livings there.



"My friends work there," said one Waretown man in his early 30s, who did

not want to give his name. "It's safe. I'm not worried."



But even residents who concede that a nuclear meltdown could happen said

they were not sure if they would take advantage of the free pills.



They represent another a very different line of thought, which says the

government is powerless to protect residents near nuclear power plants.



"It could happen and it might happen, I don't know," said David

Guastaferro, a contractor on his lunch break Saturday.



"I don't know if these pills work or not. I hope they do. But if it's

your time, it's your time. I guess I'd take them if I had them around,

but I'm going to go track them down to get them."



Al Vollmuth lives in nearby Manahawkin, which like most of the rest of

Ocean County, would be eligible for free pills once the state expands

its distribution radius to 20 miles.



"I'm old and retired," Vollmuth said. "If they're free, I'll take them,

but if not, I don't know."



(For information on the state's education and distribution sessions set

to begin next weekend, check the state Department of Health Web site



www.state.nj.us/health/



and click on emergency preparedness.)



To e-mail Jim McElhatton at The Press:



JMcElhatton@pressofac.com



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