The effect of iodine tablets on radioactive radiation

In the event of an accident in a nuclear power plant – for example due to massive damage or destruction – radioactive material escapes iodine as one of the first substances. This radioactive iodine can irradiate and destroy thyroid tissue, and it can lead to cancer.

radioactivity enters the body through inhalation or is absorbed through the skin.

Thyroid cancer, tumours, acute leukemia, eye diseases, mental disorders and even damage to the genetic material are just a few of the worst health consequences that exposure to high levels of radiation can cause in humans.

If the body is exposed to a massive dose of radiation, even for a short time, it will lead to death within a few hours or days.

How useful is the administration of iodine?

If iodine tablets are administered, this uncontaminated iodine also accumulates in the thyroid gland. The body is almost flooded with the substance. A high dose of it prevents dangerous, contaminated iodine from settling in the body’s own cells, because the store is already full.

So if you give enough “good” iodine in time, there is no longer any room in the thyroid for the “bad, radioactive iodine”. It cannot accumulate there and is excreted through the kidneys.

Our body cannot produce iodine itself. We have to get it from the outside, for example through food. This enables our thyroid gland to produce hormones that control many of our body’s functions, including the development of our brain.

Our body cannot produce iodine itself. We have to absorb it through food, for example.

Do not take iodine tablets as a precaution!

However, if a nuclear power plant is damaged or destroyed and radioactivity is released as a result, it makes no sense to take iodine tablets as a preventive measure, because the thyroid gland only stores iodine for a certain period of time.

The unnecessary intake of high-dose iodine can even be dangerous, since many people in Germany already suffer from an overactive thyroid gland. Nobody should take these tablets unless they are in acute danger!

According to the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) In the event of a nuclear accident of any kind, taking iodine tablets up to a distance of one hundred kilometers can make sense.

The right time is important. The iodine blockade is said to be strongest when the tablets are taken just before or during exposure to radioactive iodine.

cesium and strontium

The radioactive isotopes of iodine 131 and iodine 133 are responsible for thyroid cancer. Especially in the first few days after a nuclear accident in a nuclear power plant, for example due to massive damage or destruction, they are essential for the radiation exposure.

Radionuclides are also dangerous components of radioactive radiation Strontium 90 and Cesium 137. They are deposited in the bone tissue, which also leads to an increased risk of cancer.

The body confuses these substances with calcium and incorporates the dangerous substances into the physiological processes in muscle and bone tissue.

But the bone marrow is responsible for making new blood cells, and exposure to ionizing radiation can throw this process out of control. Then it comes to the dreaded and often fatal leukemia, the blood cancer.

damage to the genetic material

Radiation can also cause massive damage to genetic material, as was the case after the atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the end of World War II. Children with terrible deformities were born.

And even in the case of a catastrophe like the one in the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Chernobyl in April 1986, the after-effects are obvious. 20 years after the accident, the cancer rate has risen by 40 percent in most of the affected regions. It is estimated that 25,000 people who helped clean up the reactor died in Russia alone.

Hardly any treatment options

In the case of radiation, there is hardly any help. However, the decisive factor is whether it is a case of contamination or incorporation. In the event of contamination, radioactive substances are deposited on the body surface.

It may sound banal, but in such cases one tries to wash off these substances with ordinary water and soapy foam.

Incorporation, on the other hand, is much more risky, because the dangerous substances get directly into the body and there are hardly any possibilities to flush them out.

Intensity and time are key

Radioactivity is measured in millisieverts. At a load of 250 millisievert or 0.25 siev over a short period of time, radiation sickness can occur. The average pollution from the environment is according to the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) about 2.1 millisieverts. This value refers to one year.

The so-called acute radiation exposure begins at 4000 millisieverts or four sieverts. Mortality increases enormously. From six Sievert it is 100 percent. The person concerned has no chance – this burden leads directly to death.

Danger from radioactivity

Over 2000 nuclear explosions since 1945

Since the end of World War II, the USA has detonated 1039 atomic bombs, the Soviet Union 718, France 198, Great Britain and China 45 each, India and North Korea 3 each, Pakistan 2. Tens of thousands of people have so far been directly irradiated by atomic bombs.

Danger from radioactivity

[1945:AtomicbombdroppedonHiroshima

140,000 of 350,000 inhabitants died in the first few months. Cancer, liver and heart diseases as well as hormone and chromosomal changes increased in the following years. Even today, the leukemia rate in Hiroshima is higher than in the rest of Japan.

Danger from radioactivity

Over 1000 nuclear tests in Nevada

The tests in Mercury from 1950 to 1992 contaminated large parts of the USA. Radioactive strontium was discovered in children’s teeth and the number of cancer cases increased. From 1963 to 1992 the tests were underground. However, due to accidents, there were more radioactive dust clouds.

Danger from radioactivity

Sellafield Nuclear Complex

The first reactors at the plant in north-west England supplied plutonium for British atomic bombs from 1952, and electricity production began in 1956. In 1957 a reactor caught fire, followed by numerous accidents. Soil and sea were contaminated. Children of the workers often contracted leukemia.

Danger from radioactivity

death from uranium mining

From 1946 to 1990, the East German Wismut region was the third largest uranium mine in the world and a supplier for the Soviet nuclear program. According to the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, every eighth worker died from radioactivity, a total of over 7,000 people. Residents often developed lung cancer.

Danger from radioactivity

Secret city, covered up radiation

In 1993, a tank exploded in the nuclear city of Tomsk-7 in Siberia, which was kept secret until 1992. Radioactive plutonium and cesium contaminated the region. There were at least 38 major accidents at the large Soviet nuclear complexes Tomsk-7 and Mayak. Hundreds of thousands of workers and their families were contaminated.

Danger from radioactivity

1979: Nuclear accident near Harrisburg

The nuclear meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power station in the USA was the first major reactor catastrophe before Chernobyl and Fukushima. Large amounts of radioactivity were released into the environment. Studies show increased cancer rates. Counter-studies by the nuclear industry dispute this.

Danger from radioactivity

1986: Chernobyl nuclear disaster

These twins were born after the disaster. The father was a liquidator, the mother lived in the contaminated city. At that time, the meltdown and explosion threw large amounts of radioactivity into the air, and entire areas became uninhabitable. The Journal of Cancer estimates more than 15,000 cancer deaths.

Danger from radioactivity

2011: Fukushima nuclear disaster

The core meltdowns led to the greatest radioactive contamination of the oceans to date. Radiation experts assume 22,000 to 66,000 additional deaths from cancer. Since then, children have been more likely to develop thyroid cancer.

Danger from radioactivity

Danger from nuclear waste

Highly radioactive nuclear waste radiates for millions of years. There is still no repository for highly radioactive waste anywhere in the world. Germany is rehabilitating old nuclear waste storage facilities and is paying billions for this.

Danger from radioactivity

Iraq: Leukemia from uranium ammunition

The use of depleted uranium munitions during the Gulf War in the early 1990s exposed the population to increased levels of radiation. Since then, there has been an increase in birth defects and cancer in the city of Basra. Children in particular are at risk. The childhood cancer rate has tripled.

Author: Gero Rueter