Print
Dec 6, 2006 9:40 am US/Eastern
Radiation Pills Now Available On The Cape
(AP)
-
-
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station
CBS
Radiation pills promised four years ago to protect residents of the Cape and Islands in case of an accident at the
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station have arrived at local towns and will soon be broadly distributed.
The tablets of potassium iodide, or KI, block the thyroid gland from absorbing radioactive isotopes -- reducing the risk of thyroid cancer-- if they are taken immediately after radiation is released from a nuclear power plant, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
In 2002, the state Legislature passed a law making KI available to all residents of the Cape and Islands.
In
Plymouth, where the plant is located, health officials have already distributed the pills free through pharmacies, but only 10 percent of the population picked them up, the Cape Cod Times reported. The pills are now stockpiled at local schools.
On the Cape and Islands, every town on the Cape and Islands has received at least a portion of its stockpile from the state Department of Public Health within the last three weeks.
Sandwich will begin handing out the pills through the town clerk's office next week. Other towns are still formulating plans to distribute them.
State Rep. Matthew Patrick, D-Falmouth, who sponsored the amendment to have Cape and Islands towns receive the pills, said people should not rely on KI for protection.
"It's not a cure-all, but it protects the thyroid gland, which is the most susceptible," Patrick said.
Patrick said the pills were delayed by a lack of urgency on the part of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and squabbles over how to pay for them. The pills eventually were paid for by Entergy, the owner of the Pilgrim plant.
Residents are allowed two pills per household member. The pills have a shelf life until 2013.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
