Safe from radiation at 5000 miles away

Because of damage to Japanese nuclear reactors in last Friday’s earthquake and tsunami, radiation is being released. Because it is radiation, many people are very concerned, maybe even over reacting.

The amount of radiation released has exposed dozens of people who live or work quite close to the Fukushima Daiichi reactors and will likely increase their chances of radiation illness and perhaps even cancer. But, the short term danger to people living hundreds or thousands of miles away appears to be non-existent. Radiation getting into the winds which blow from Japan over the Pacific Ocean to the West Coast will not be dangerous even if there's a complete meltdown.

“This is not a serious public health issue at the moment.” Malcolm Crick, Secretary of the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation said. “It won’t be anything like Chernobyl. There the reactor was operating at full power when it exploded and it had no containment,” he reminded.

A longer term fear involves contamination of Earth’s atmosphere, damage to food and water sources with lasting radioactive iodine and other isotopes. But even this view doesn't point to any dramatic rise in the risk of dire illnesses including cancer for Americans. In the US right now there is no detectable rise in radiation.

To the point, there’s no need to run out for potassium iodide right now. In fact potassium iodide can have a dangerous allergic response to some and is not safe for pregnant women. We don’t need to overly worry and our concern should be for Japanese people who have a long road of recovery before them.

Source: Reuters, Jay Gordon, MD