Potassium Iodide administration -Reply

[Charles Willis <CAW@nrc.gov>]

A personal suggestion: make sure you have a problem before implementing a
solution.  Are your people getting significant thyroid doses from radioiodine?  If so,
it is likely that more attention should be paid to contamination control.  If  not,
playing to radiation phobia will serve no useful purpose.

KI is not a particulary hazardous medication, but it is not totally risk-free (what is?).
Too much (stable) iodine causes thyroid problems (nodules) and most Americans
get  more iodine than they need from a variety of sources, particularly hamburger,
so administering unneeded KI is to invite law suits.  A readable source of
information on this topic is Marshall Brucer's article in the April 1991 edition of
the Health Physics Society Newsletter.

Charlie Willis
caw@nrc.gov