If you are, like me, a fan of hippie music, you might be familiar with the famous lines from Crosby, Stills, and Nash's Wooden Ships — Say, can I have some of your purple berries? Yes I've been eating them... for six or seven weeks now, didn't get sick once, probably keep us both alive.
You may not have known that the "purple berries" are, in fact, potassium iodide — but if you do, you might, like many people, ascribe magical, but sadly erroneous, life-saving properties to these "nuke pills".
If you want them, too, or if you've already stocked up, you at least need to know exactly what potassium iodide can and cannot do for you, and under what circumstances.
What Is Potassium Iodide — And What Is it Used For?
The CDC describes potassium iodide — KI for short, as the scientific or neo-Latin name for potassium is kalium — as a "salt of stable (not radioactive) idione". If you read the CDC's information page about potassium iodide, you will quickly discover that all the information centers around its capacity to stop the thyroid from absorbing radioactive iodine in case of a nuclear attack or disaster.
Here's how that works. When you take standard potassium iodide tablets (or powders, if you cannot swallow tablets or the tablets were out of stock), you completely overload the thyroid gland with non-radioactive iodine. The thyroid is then "full" and can no longer absorb radioactive iodine. This helps to prevent the development of thyroid cancer later down the line. Potassium iodide does not protect other organs in the body; only the thyroid.
Nuclear war or disaster is not, contrary to popular belief, the only reason to use potassium iodide. It is also used in people undergoing radiation therapy for certain types of non-thyroid cancer, especially in children, in order to protect the thyroid from the radiation associated with this treatment. It's also useful in film photography, and used in the manufacture of disinfectants.
Can Potassium Iodide Protect You From the Effects of Nuclear Disaster or War?
Anything radioactive is scary as hell, so it's no wonder that people are making a run on potassium iodide pills. Now that you know that these "nuke pills" only protect the thyroid gland, in which case preventing thyroid cancer is the core purpose, it's time to delve a little deeper.
In short, that means that potassium iodide might be useful in the case of a nuclear accident — like the one that happened at Chernobyl in 1986, and like another one that could potentially strike at the very same site again in case of heavy fighting, during which missiles are used.
If you've ever seen the British movie Threads, according to "nuke film nerds" the best nuke film ever made, you'll know that thyroid cancer will be the least of your concerns five to 10 years after an all-out nuclear war of annihilation or, as the doomsday preppers would say, nuclear TEOWAWKI (that's "the end of the world as we know it") event.
You likely won't survive long enough to develop thyroid cancer. In fact, if you're sane at all, and you don't feel some grand obligation to "save the existence of the human species", you're not even going to want to survive long enough to develop thyroid cancer. To prevent a sea of pain and suffering, a bullet to your own head is more effective than potassium iodide in that particular scenario.
PSA: Don't Ever Take Potassium Iodide as a Prophylactic (And Other Useful Info)
Potassium iodide is a medication. Like all others, it has some side effects. Potassium iodide can upset the stomach and digestive system, lead to an allergic reaction, cause nasty rashes, and lead to an inflammation of the salivary glands. It can even do damage to the thyroid in some cases.
Only take potassium iodide if local health authorities or emergency authorities tell you to, in case of disaster or nuclear war. Don't use more than the recommended dose, because it will be useless, and that's generally one pill a day per person. Potassium iodide is generally recommended for children, people below the age of 40, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers. People over 40 only need to take it if exposed to very high radiation levels, as instructed, because they are less vulnerable to thyroid cancer due to radiation exposure in the first place.
OK, If 'Nuke Pills' Aren't the Answer, What Can I Do to Protect My Family?
If you're a Cold War baby, you'll remember. Whether or not you are a Cold War baby, the fact that the US government's Ready.gov web page on nuclear disasters was just updated at the beginning of March 2022 is scary all on its own. On the plus side, Ready.gov does offer you that refresher course.
In case of nuclear war or a serious nuclear disaster nearby:
- Get inside immediately. Concrete or brick buildings offer the best protection from radiation. (They're not explosion-proof, so if they come down, you're toast!). Covering yourself with dirt can help a bit. A basement or, even better, a bomb shelter is good, because it does offer some protection from explosions as well. Close doors and windows.
- Stay inside for at least 24 hours. We hope you have a radio. You'll want one, to listen out for instructions. The internet won't work.
- Take social distancing to a new extreme — don't go anywhere near people outside of your household and if you do, make them take their clothes off and take a shower, first.
- Remove contaminated clothing as soon as possible and shower. Shower any pets that were exposed as well.
- Do not look at the flash. It will blind you.
- Eat canned food and drink bottled water.
To prepare ahead of time:
- Gather plenty of water and canned food.
- Build a stockpile of all the medications you usually use, and helpful ones like painkillers and antibiotics. Have a well-stocked first-aid kit.
- Buy a radio.
- Consider building a fallout shelter.
We could go into much more depth, but we're a health site — not a prepper site. This article is about potassium iodide pills, not about surviving nuclear war or disaster. I'll tell you this, though. Very probably just like you, I don't own a luxury doomsday shelter ready to survive the next 100 years underground. We could survive another Chernobyl quite easily, but we're unlikely to survive an all-out global nuclear war.
Potassium iodide isn't going to save us from that one, I'm afraid. Praying for world peace is likely a more effective protective effort, even if there's no such thing as God.