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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...Americans-panic-buy-anti-radiation-drugs.html
16th March 2011, by David Derbyshire
'Don't panic': Obama calls for calm as terrified Americans panic-buy anti-radiation drugs and Geiger counters over nuclear fall-out fears
U.S. Surgeon General warns Americans to 'be prepared' for harmful radiation from Japan to hit West Coast
Nukepills.com sells 250,000 potassium iodide pills while Anbex gets three orders a MINUTE instead of per week
Packs of 14 pills that usually cost $9.99 changing hands on Amazon.com and eBay for $250 to $400
Geigercounters.com begs people not to place any more orders after it sells out of radiation detection gadgets
Real-time radiation map of U.S. shows levels are currently within normal ranges
Japan Fukushima plant rocked by another fire and two more explosions, bringing the total to four
President Obama: 'No danger of Japan nuclear fallout reaching the U.S.'
President Obama has called for calm as worried Americans panic-buy drugs to protect themselves against the nuclear fallout in Japan and the U.S. Surgeon General warned them to 'be prepared'.
Regina Benjamin said it was right to be prepared for harmful radiation that could blow across to the West Coast following explosions at the Fukushima plant in Japan - in contrast to guidance from state officials.
Ms Benjamin made the remarks to NBC Bay Area while touring a California hospital on Tuesday. Anbex quickly sold out of a 10,000-strong supply of 14-tablet packages of potassium iodide pills on Saturday.
Barack Obama has tried to calm fears by reassuring Americans any nuclear release will dissipate even by the time it gets to Hawaii.
Stocks of the tablets, which aim to stop radiation poisoning the thyroid gland, are running low and customers missing out are said to be ‘crying’ or ‘terrified’.
Company president Alan Morris said the firm was getting three orders per minute for the $10 iOSAT packages - compared to the normal rate of as low as three per week.
‘Those who don't get it are crying,’ he told the Wall Street Journal. ‘They're terrified.’
Fleming Pharmaceuticals, which makes liquid potassium iodide, say they are getting dozens of calls and emails every hour for their 45ml $13.25 ThyroShield bottles.
‘It actually has been insanity here,’ co-owner Deborah Fleming Wurdack said. The company expects to sell out this week and is planning to manufacture more.
The wind near the quake-damaged Fukushima plant, which has released radiation into the atmosphere, will blow out into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday at 39ft per second, weather officials said.
Radiation in Tokyo was 10 times normal levels on Tuesday, when the wind was blowing from the north and northeast, but now it will blow from the northwest. The news came as Japan's government said it may seek direct U.S. military help to end a crisis at the plant.
Threat level: One U.S. website begged customers not to order any more Geiger counters - devices that measure levels of radiation, shown left - after demand completely outstripped supply while a map of the U.S. with real time radiation counts showed levels on the West coast were well within normal ranges
Drug supplier Nukepills.com sold 250,000 potassium iodide pills and 3,000 liquid doses to pharmacies, labs, companies and hospitals last weekend, president Troy Jones told Fox News.
Most orders came from California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii. It has back-ordered more than a million tablets and donated 50,000 to Japan.
Pills were also changing hands for staggering amounts on the internet. Five sellers on Amazon.com were offering 14 iOSAT potassium iodide tablets - that usually cost $9.99 - for between $250 and $459. Another was selling 900 pills for $7,800.
On eBay packs of 14 pills were selling for between $250 to $300 .
One U.S. website is also begging customers not to order any more Geiger counters - devices that measure levels of radiation - after demand completely outstripped supply for the pocket models, following the warnings.
Geigercounters.com posted on its site today: 'Due to the disaster in Japan, orders for Geiger counters have out-stripped supply. At this point there are simply not enough detectors available to meet the overwhelming demand.'
An update later read: 'The backlog is just too great - don't place any more orders for Geiger counters unless it is the Detector or Prospector models.
A spokesman for the site said they had sold hundreds of the devices, which cost anything from $250 to more than $1,000, since the earthquake last week.
However a map of the U.S. with real time radiation counts from Geiger counters currently shows levels on the West coast are well within normal ranges.
The map on radiationnetwork.com updates as frequently as every three minutes and states radiation levels can range from five to 60 Counts per Minute (CPM) depending on location and altitude.
It also states that the 'Alert Level' for the National Radiation Map is 130CPM.
Scientists have warned of a 'worst-case scenario' in which material blasted into the atmosphere after a Fukushima plant ‘meltdown’ could be blown towards the U.S.
Radioactive iodine can come out of a nuclear reactor in an accident, but other experts say there is a low chance of Japan's radiation reaching the U.S. at dangerous levels.
Fears of 'an apocalypse' were raised as radiation levels soared - and experts warned the crippled Fukushima plant had become a nuclear risk second only to the Chernobyl disaster.
President Obama last night said any fallout from a potential nuclear meltdown in Japan would not affect Americans.
'There are some dangers for radiation release that could affect the immediate vicinity of the nuclear plants, and could potentially drift over other parts of Japan,' he said in an interview with KDKA television in Pittsburgh.
'But I've been assured that any nuclear release dissipates by the time it gets to Hawaii, much less the mainland of the United States.'
Later in another interview he said the situation in Japan provided an opportunity for the U.S. to reevaluate its own security procedures.
'One of the things that it reminds us of is that the safety and the constant monitoring and oversight that we're providing to our nuclear facilities here in the United States has to be maintained,' the President told KOAT television in Albuquerque.
'We have a budget for it. I've already instructed our Nuclear Regulatory Agency to make sure that we take lessons learned from what's happened in Japan and that we are constantly upgrading how we approach our nuclear safety in our country.'
California and Washington states have been reassuring residents their monitoring has not detected any harmful radiation levels - and health officials do not expect to.
‘Japan has an evacuation area of about 12 miles from the nuclear plants. Washington state is 5,000 to 6,000 miles away from Japan,’ a state health spokesman said.
California has been advising residents not to buy the drug, as it could cause side effects in those allergic to shellfish or suffering from thyroid problems.
Kelly Huston of the California Emergency Management Agency said state officials and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are telling people not to buy the pills.
Potassium iodide, which stops the body from taking in radioactive iodine from a nuclear emergency, can be purchased without a prescription. The salt fills up the thyroid gland and stops it collecting radioactive material - reducing the risk of cancer and other health problems.
But Professor Kathryn Higley, director of the Oregon State University (OSU) nuclear engineering department, said the U.S. West Coast residents should not be worried.
‘We’re going to be lucky if we can even measure any of this,’ she told the Register-Guard. ‘Right now, the expectation is it’s going to be a locally contained event.’
OSU radiation expert Steven Reese added: ‘I would caution anybody against taking potassium iodide in an effort to protect themselves against radioactive iodine.
‘A certain fraction of the population will have an anaphylactic reaction to it - they’ll be allergic to it. And the consequences of that can be severe.'
Meanwhile Japan was consumed by panic again last night as the nuclear crisis threatened to spiral out of control.
Fears of 'an apocalypse' were raised as radiation levels soared - and experts warned the crippled Fukushima plant had become a nuclear risk second only to the Chernobyl disaster.
More than 140,000 residents within 19 miles of the plant were ordered to stay indoors - in addition to the 180,000 already evacuated from the immediate area. Terrified families clogged roads as they tried to flee.
The plant was yesterday rocked by a fire and two more explosions - bringing the total to four. One damaged the concrete and steel walls protecting reactor 2 – as concerns grew that the casing could split and potentially send out a cloud of dangerous radiation.
The alarm spread worldwide. In Europe, some 500 bone marrow transplant centres were put on standby to treat any victims from Japan. And in India, officials demanded that imported Japanese goods be screened for radiation contamination.
In desperation, Tokyo Electric Power, which is responsible for the Fukushima plant, asked U.S. helicopters to drop water on to the building in an attempt to cool a reactor, as radiation levels are too high for people to approach it.
Levels at the site peaked at a dangerous 400 millisieverts yesterday – four times the level that can trigger cancer. However, they had fallen again by the end of the day. Japan ordered a 30-mile no fly zone over the exclusion zone to stop the spread of radiation.
Broadcasts on NHK television had an apocalyptic tone: ‘For those in the evacuation area, close your windows and doors. Switch off your air conditioners. If you are being evacuated, cover yourself as much as possible and wear a facemask. Stay calm.’
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan told residents: ‘The level seems very high, and there is still a very high risk of more radiation coming out.’
Despite this, officials stressed that radiation levels were safe and called for calm.
Panic spread to Tokyo, where radiation has risen to ten times the normal level. Shoppers stripped food and face-masks from shops and filled outbound trains.
Potassium iodide pills, which deal with the consequences of radiation, were changing hands for £300, instead of a few pounds.
The U.S. took new steps to protect its personnel from radiation by moving warships to safer waters.
At the Yokoshuka Naval Base, 200 miles south of the plant, it told personnel and families to limit time outdoors and to close off ventilation systems ‘as much as practical’.
At least 17 Americans on helicopter missions have been exposed to the equivalent of around a month’s worth of background radiation.
To make matters worse, a fresh earthquake hit Japan, registering 6.2 on the Richter Scale – and the death toll rose above 3,300, although it will inevitably climb further.
The sense of crisis at the nuclear plant has been growing since Friday’s tsunami, caused by a massive earthquake, knocked out the cooling systems essential to prevent the plant’s uranium and plutonium fuel rods from overheating and melting.
Three of the plant’s six nuclear reactors were working when the disaster struck.
Then, on Saturday and Monday morning, fireballs rocked the site when hydrogen gas – released deliberately to ease pressure inside reactors 1 and 3 – ignited. On Monday night, a third hydrogen explosion hit reactor 2 and in the early hours of yesterday morning reactor 4 was rocked by an explosion damaging the roof.
The blast at 2 demolished the building housing the reactor and damaged the 80-inch steel and concrete containment unit that protects the radioactive core.
Damage to the reactor’s core, combined with a breach of the containment unit could be catastrophic.
Japan’s nuclear safety agency said the blast may have hit the unit’s suppression chamber – a large doughnut shaped structure below the core. A crack would have allowed radioactive steam and particles to escape.
In further examples of the alarm worldwide, stocks were hit on both sides of the Atlantic, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumping nearly 300 points after trading opened on Wall Street.
