Japanese government admits potassium iodide pills should have been distributed earlier

(NaturalNews) A Japanese nuclear safety official has now publicly admitted the Japanese government improperly withheld potassium iodide from the public for three days following the Fukushima power plant explosion. Kazuma Yokota says the Japanese government was “caught off guard” by the nuclear catastrophe and didn’t realize its people needed potassium iodide until three days later.

Associated Press distributed this statement, which has been carried by hundreds of mainstream news organizations:

“A Japanese nuclear safety official, Kazuma Yokota, acknowledged that the government only belatedly realized the need to give potassium iodide pills that help reduce chances of thyroid cancer to those living within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the nuclear complex.”

This explanation defies logic, of course. How can a person whose job is to assure the safety of the nuclear industry not realize that an exploding nuclear power plant might be dangerous to its people? This should have been the very first action item made public: Take your potassium iodide! A nuclear plant has just exploded, and radiation is leaking into the environment… what to do?

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Posted by Andrew McCleese on Mar 21 2011. Filed under Featured, Health, Web-Only Content. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.