Although Gainesville is 3,000 miles away from the west coast, where radiation is expected to first make landfall in the continental U.S., local health food stores are sold out of potassium iodide.
Health officials say if radiation were to reach the U.S., people should consume this product to protect their thyroids from radiation.
Radioactive iodine may be released into the air after a radiological or nuclear disaster. The thyroid gland cannot tell the difference between stable and radioactive iodine and will absorb either. If someone takes potassium iodide, his or her thyroid gland will become full of stable iodine.
This blocks the radioactive iodine from entering the thyroid but only lasts for 24 hours before another dose needs to be taken.
Sunflower Health Foods, 87 SW 34th St., has just started replenishing its potassium iodide stock.
“When the tsunami first hit, we were wiped clean, and so were our distributors,” said Rich Alexander, a Sunflower employee.
Alexander’s customers aren’t buying the product for themselves. Many are sending it to their family and friends in California.
“I had one woman come in, put her hand behind the bottles and rake all of them into her shopping basket,” he said.
Alexander said the woman has family members living on the west coast who haven’t been able to find potassium iodide in any form.
Mother Earth Market, located at 521 NW 13th St. and 1237 NW 76th Blvd., has been sold out of the product for two weeks. The location on 13th Street has a shelf full of special orders that are being held in the back for specific customers. The supplement specialist at the location on 76th Street said her shelves were empty as well, even though she had just received a shipment.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging Americans not to begin ingesting potassium iodide unless instructed to do so by emergency management officials or public health officials.
