Demand for potassium iodide spikes

[Batman (imported)]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42095558/ns ... alth_care/

By JoNel Aleccia Health writer

msnbc.com msnbc.com

In the five minutes it takes to ask Troy Jones about a sudden shortage of potassium iodide pills to prevent radiation sickness, the North Carolina owner of http://www.nukepills.com already has logged nearly two dozen more orders.

“I’m now getting one every 30 seconds,” said Jones, 46, who has sold out of more than 50,000 doses of pills and liquid in days in the wake of fears of potential nuclear fallout from Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Despite expert assurances that nuclear radiation won’t reach the shores of America, demand for potassium iodide has swamped the stocks of all three manufacturers or suppliers approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for use in the U.S.

Anbex, Inc., of Williamsburg, Va., sold out of IOSAT pills on Monday. Fleming & Co. Pharmaceuticals, of Fenton, Mo., which makes ThyroShield Solution is scrambling to make more. And Recipharm AB, the Swedish firm that makes lower-dose Thyro-Safe tablets estimates it will take weeks to replenish its stock.

“We’ve shipped more private orders in the last three days than we have in the last three years,” said Mark Quick, the vice president of corporate development for Recipharm.

Big volume, low cost

If anyone can still get potassium iodide, it’s Jones. Since 1999, he’s been what he describes as the world’s leading retailer of the product that blocks the thyroid gland from absorbing radioactive iodine. He typically buys vast volumes at a low cost from manufacturers and then resells them to distributors and consumers for about $10 for a 14-pill pack of 130-milligram tablets online.

Jones’ site says his customers have included government agencies, hospitals, the U.S. Postal Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and even the Nuclear Regulatory Commission — although an earthquake-harried spokesman at NRC said he didn’t have time to confirm that. Jones says he sold 5.3 million doses of ThyroShield to Kuwait in 2009 when that country’s nuclear fears escalated.

“Nobody buys it as cheap as me,” said Jones, who wouldn’t reveal his markup to msnbc.com. A 2009 NPR report suggested he buys the pills for about 35 cents apiece and sells them for twice that.

As of Tuesday, Jones had a 3,000-order backlog for all potassium iodide products and was working feverishly from his Mooresville, N.C., home, which is just across the lake from a nuclear power plant. He hoped to replenish his supply as soon as possible, but admitted it could take weeks because of manufacturing and regulatory delays.

Alan Morris, president of Anbex Inc., which manufactures the IOSET pills, said he hoped to produce and ship about 4.5 million tablets in the next few weeks, but admitted that the Japan disaster caught his company a bit off guard.

"The world seems to be utterly terrified of what's going on in Japan," Morris said. "This is the first time in 30 years that we've been out of stock."

Many customers are private individuals who help fuel sales of about a quarter million tablets a month. Most clients come from New York, Los Angeles — and Utah, Jones said. And while stockpiling antidotes for a nuclear emergency could seem extreme, Jones said the customers aren’t all the tin-foil hat set.

“I have some nuts, people who swear up and down that the world is going to end May 21,” he said. “Most of them are normal, every-day, see-them-at-the-grocery store people.”

Typical buyers are prudent people who simply like to plan ahead, he said.

Deborah Fleming Wurdack, co-owner of Fleming & Co. Pharmaceuticals, which makes the ThyroShield Solution, agrees.

“Even if the risk is low, why would I not be prepared?” said Wurdack. “I’m one that protects myself and my family, and apparently a lot of people agree with me.”

How much radiation is dangerous?

1.

Radiation is measured using the unit sievert, which quantifies the amount of radiation absorbed by human tissues. One sievert is 1,000 millisieverts (mSv). One millisievert is 1,000 microsieverts.

The average person in the United States is exposed to about 6.2 millisieverts a year, mostly from background radiation and medical tests.

Some facts about radiation exposure:

* A person would need to be exposed to at least 100 mSv a year to have an increase in cancer risk. Exposure to 1,000 mSv (1 sievert) over a year would probably cause a fatal cancer many years later in five out of every 100 people who receive that much radiation.

* A total body CT scan exposes a person to about 10 mSv.

* A mammogram exposes a woman to about 0.7 mSv.

* CT colonography is about 5 to 8 mSv.

* A CT heart scan is about 12 mSv.

* A typical chest X-ray involves exposure of about 0.02 mSv

* A dental X-ray can be 0.01 mSv.

* Coast-to-coast airplane flight exposes a person to about .03 mSv. Airline crews flying the New York-Tokyo polar route are exposed to 9 mSv a year.

Sources: Reuters; New England Journal of Medicine; American Cancer Society; World Nuclear Association and Taiwan's Atomic Energy Council

Potassium iodide actually protects only against one aspect of nuclear radiation, exposure to radioactive iodine 131. It does not protect generally against other forms of radiation exposure, according to the FDA.

No radiation danger in U.S., experts say

Scientists and nuclear experts say they can’t stress enough that no contamination is expected to reach the U.S. and precautions such as stockpiling potassium iodide are not necessary.

But U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin may have contributed to some public health confusion on Tuesday when she told a reporter that while she wasn't aware of people stocking up, it

The Department of Health and Human Services quickly issued a statement clarifying that Dr. Benjamin wasn't recommending that anyone go out and purchase the pills.

“Anyone outside of Japan right now, it would certainly not seem necessary,” said Richard Morin, a professor of Radiologic Physics at the Mayo Clinic and chairman of the American College of Radiology’s Safety Committee.

“There is no need to do it,” added Scott Burnell, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission who notes that the U.S. has never had an emergency that required use or distribution of potassium iodide.

Even Troy Jones believes there will be little actual need for his product:

“I personally do not think anyone on the West Coast is in harm’s way from nuclear radiation from Japan,” he said.

[Batman (imported)]

I find this sickeningly predictable and sad. People who are in no danger will cause excessive shortages to others in the world who will truly be in need...

I wonder how many of these sales are to non-west coast states even though they aren't in any danger. Even the coastal states aren't in danger.

**SIGH**

[A-1 (imported)]

I find this sickeningly predictable and sad. People who are in no danger will cause excessive shortages to others in the world who will truly be in need...

I wonder how many of these sales are to non-west coast states even though they aren't in any danger. Even the coastal states aren't in danger.

**SIGH**

...it is a world ruled by $ MONEY $...

[Riverwind (imported)]

...it is a world ruled by $ MONEY $...

AND STUPID, never leave out STUPID.

River

[Dave (imported)]

AND STUPID, never leave out STUPID.

River

I remember being in the secretary's office when the divisions were "rich" enough to have two secretaries. One was very pregnant and ten days overdue. The other was young, silly and young, a nice girl but young and just starting with the Division. I knew her Dad and her for a few years.

Well, the pregnant secretary and I joked about going into labor and how pregnant women under hormonal stress can kill any boss who was a jerk or insisted on keeping their punctuation, etc...

In that conversation, the dear young lady discovered that labor might be imminent. She panicked. She started to get hysterical. Honest. I was in the office and watched her going into hysterical orbit. I took her hand gently and said please calm down. The only thing we had to do was call the emergency number and a nurse would answer. We both knew the nurse and the nurse would call ambulance, hospital, safety office, etc... The only thing we would need to do was to buy a baby gift that evening.

The sad part was, she didn't think first and ask questions before panic set in.

[Batman (imported)]

...it is a world ruled by $ MONEY $...

Funny you should say that..after I posted this last night I looked on Ebay talk about sickening...$$$

[DeaconBlues (imported)]

Honestly, people are... STUPID about some things. But please, let's try to be optimistic and think well of each other, and consider this:

IF you had some of these magic pills, or could readily buy them right now, wouldn't you like to be able to send a few of them over to Japan? MAYBE, MAYBE some of these panic driven sheep are buying the pills to send over for distribution in Japan. If I had the where-with-all to do it, I would do at least that much to save someone in Japan from an agonizing death to cancer.

Additionally, the reactors in Japan are serving to remind all of us that maybe we should all keep a few packs of these pills around. NOT that anyone in the US needs them now, but just as nobody needs a fire extinguisher for 99.999% of their lifetime, the one instant that you DO need it, it sure is damn nice to have it then. People who lived in the areas of "Three Mile Island" or Chernoble, when they had their accidents could have used these things.

I myself have known for many years of these magic pills (a product called "NoRad" I heard of advertised on the radio once), and wanted to buy a few packs of them, but just kept putting it off. Now, I think I quite probably will buy them, (AFTER THIS PANIC MARKET PASSES), because now I am more aware of the simple fact that they MIGHT someday be very valuable to me and my family. EVEN NOW, I wish I had a stock so that I could donate them to the Japanese people who do have good use for them.

By the way, I have three fire extinguishers in my home, and I know I do need more, along with better smoke detectors. These are expensive things that I buy and sincerely HOPE that I am just wasting my money on them. The probability of a radioactivity accident where I live is INFANTISSMALLY SMALL, still, I think I will someday buy some of this "NoRad" or some similar product with the sincerest hope that I end up wasting my money on something I will NEVER use... and IF I ever do have use for the stuff I hope it is to send to someone else who lives in a far away place.

[Batman (imported)]

That would be nice, maybe some people are buying them for that purpose, but I'm cynical. The company itself donated 50,000 pills to Japan however and that made me quite happy to read.

The best thing if people want to help Japan is to give to the Red Cross and let them and similar organizations/governments buy the pills.

[chemcast scot (imported)]

In the 20th century japan was hit by the H bomb, now in the 21st century they have been hit again by leaks from the power stations, lets pray it will not get any worse for them.

[moi621 (imported)]

Really wish the journalism crowd would police themselves and say,

"protection from thyroid cancer" and never

"protection from cancer" without ref. to Thyroid.

Blame the media and of course, for the masses believing "I" is protection from ALL malignancies.

Moi