t rates of thyroid cancer.

While residents of the area around Chernobyl are still suffering from exposure, some regions of Eastern Europe that were exposed to radiation were prepared, and were able to protect their residents from the thyroid dangers of iodine-131.

The key? Potassium iodide, (also called potassium iodine) an inexpensive drug that, when given within around 24 hours of exposure, prevents the thyroid from uptake of the radiation, and ultimately, from the increased dangers of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer due to iodine-131 exposure. Potassium iodine was handed out in Poland after the Chernobyl crisis, and this action was credited with protecting the Polish people from increased thyroid problems now being seen in Russia, the Ukraine and Belarus.

In the United States, since the Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident two decades ago, there has been an controversial and ongoing debate about making potassium iodine available to residents in the event of nuclear emergency.

Physicians from the National Institutes of Health and the American Thyroid Association have supported stockpiling. The World Health Organization is in favor of stockpiling in areas with nuclear reactors, and Japan, Canada, France and Russia all have stockpiled potassium iodine. In most European countries -- including Germany, Sweden, Britain -- potassium iodide is handed out to households in areas around nuclear plants, and are available in central locations and emergency facilities for rapid distribution.

Reports indicate that some of the workers and residents at risk in the area around Tokaimura received the protective pills in the time after the accident.

In the U.S., the nuclear power industry, afraid to increase the public's fear of a nuclear accident, accident, has consistently opposed stockpiling. After resisting the move for years, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) finally agreed several years ago that stockpiling could help protect public health in the event of an emergency, and planned to purchase potassium iodine for any state that wanted to stockpile it. The NRC later changed its position, claiming that it did not have sufficient budget to do so. The NRC asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to cover the costs, but FEMA said it wasn't authorized to pay. The funding for potassium iodine stockpiling is still up in the air, and a number of states with nuclear facilities have no provisions for distribution of potassium iodine in the event of an iodine-131 nuclear release.

How YOU Can Get Potassium Iodine

Potassium Iodine is not a prescription medication, and if you want to have some in your house in case of emergency, you can purchase it yourself, and keep it onhand in the event that there's a nuclear accident and there is an advisory to take the pills. See our list of Top Sources for more information.

Are You At Risk?

States with Commercial Nuclear Reactors

Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Connecticut Florida Georgia Illinois Iowa Kansas Louisiana

Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Nebraska New Hampshire New Jersey New York

North Carolina Ohio Pennsylvania South Carolina Tennessee Texas Vermont Virginia Washington Wisconsin

Maps of Reactors, Labs and Nuclear Facilities

• US Map of Nuclear Reactors, From the International Nuclear Safety Center (INSC)
• MAP of the World's Nuclear Power Reactors, From the International Nuclear Safety Center (INSC)

Other Key Websites

• Potassium Iodide (KI) Radiation Protection FAQ & Pills Sources -- In-depth, detailed site totally dedicated to the Potassium Iodide issue. THE central resource on the topic.
• Potassium Iodide for Nuclear Reactor Accidents -- Statement from the American Thyroid Association
• Questions and Answers About Radiation & Thyroid Disease