Luxembourg: “Iodine tablets are not an antidote”
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LUXEMBOURG – Patrick Majerus, radiation protection expert at the Ministry of Health, dispels misunderstandings about nuclear risk.
A race for iodine tablets in pharmacies. Even in Luxembourg, the war in Ukraine has triggered great concern among the population, many fearing the bombing of a nuclear power plant. Not always rational fears.
“Some thought the pills would be an antidote to the variations and imagined taking them in case something happened in Ukraine in the next few months. It does not work that way,” says Patrick Majerus, radiation protection expert at the Ministry of Health. These tablets are effective if they are taken within twelve hours before exposure to nuclear discharges and if the incident takes place a few tens or even a hundred kilometers for extreme accidents. They prevent radioactive iodine from attaching to the thyroid where it can cause cancer, especially in younger people.
Cancer risk
Their effectiveness is significant before the age of 18, a little less between 18 and 45, while beyond the potential side effects (palpitations, vomiting) can be more troublesome than the risk of cancer. With distance, the radiation gets thinner. “The Chernobyl cloud has come so far, but you need a certain concentration of radioactive iodine in the air for it to be useful to take a tablet,” insists Patrick Majerus.
There is a delay between the incident and the radioactive release. “In Fukushima, the earthquake was Friday afternoon, the tsunami Friday evening, and the first releases arrived Saturday afternoon. There is a certain inertia in a reactor. It is a process that takes several hours, 20 or 24 hours is not atypical”.
Especially if you are at home in the first 24 hours when you receive a dose estimated to be five times lower than if you were outside. It’s comparable to one or two full scans in the hospital. There is a certain risk of cancer but difficult to detect afterwards.
Stocks in Luxembourg
Following Fukushima in 2011, Luxembourg reviewed its distribution strategy. Before, we had stocks close to the population and the municipalities had distribution plans. We thought that in the event of an emergency, the municipalities would have chosen to do something other than massively distribute iodine tablets, so it would be preferable to distribute them upstream so that people would have them at home in the event of an emergency. ‘ incident.
A distribution took place in 2014. “Roughly half the population went to get the tablets. But it is not known to what degree the population under 45 is covered”. You can never guarantee that 100% of the population has it. Some don’t go looking for them, others have lost them, can’t find them anymore. So we have kept stocks in the municipalities which can distribute them in an emergency. Since 2002, tablets have been distributed in maternity wards to reach the youngest. Existing stocks also in schools, high schools or companies to also cover cross-border workers.
We don’t really have a national stock because on the one hand decentralized stocks, but if we look at everything that has been distributed, on one more blister packs of tablets than there are population. In one package there are ten tablets and two are taken. It is a tightly packed salt. We are doing tests at the LNS and we see that the oldest tablets of 20-25 years are still like new. It retains its effectiveness and does not expire. In 2014, we had a good one. Since then, people have been told ”if you don’t have any, send us an email ([email protected]) and we will send them to you”. It’s good that people have the reflex to find the tablets. We have a lot of requests so it will take a little time.