Ann Arbor, Michigan City Councilmember Ann Bannister is interviewed on WEMU Public Radio regarding the unanimous passage of the municipal resolution calling upon the State of Michigan and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to expand potassium iodide (KI) predistriution and strategic stockpiling out to a 50-mile radius around the Fermi-2 nuclear power station in Monroe, Michigan. Canadian authorities are already predistributing the KI to Canadian's living within 50 miles of US reactors where emergency preparedness zones extend over the international border.
There is now a medical consensus that KI predistribution and strategic stockpiling within a 50-mile radius of all nuclear power stations is prudent protection with a focus on infants, children and pregnant women.
American Thyroid Association (2017) issues scientific paper on potassium iodide (KI) prophylaxis for protection of the thyroid---particularly in infants, children and pregnant women---from radioactive iodine potentially released during a nuclear accident. The ATA is calling for KI predistribution by direct delivery to populations within 10 miles of nuclear power stations and expanded strategic stockpiling for the population within a 50-mile radius.
Canadian health authorities (2018) are already predistributing KI to all Ontario citizens living and working within 50 miles of the Fermi 2 nuclear power station operating in Monroe, Michigan and Canadians living within the 50-mile emergency preparedness zones for U.S. reactors in Ohio (Davis-Besse and Perry).
"Because treatment with KI should be commenced immediately before or during the passage of a radioactive cloud in an event in which radioiodines are released, KI supplies need to be stored where readily available to the public. Storage in the National Strategic Stockpile will not allow for timely distribution of materials; KI should be stored in hospitals, public health departments, and other local sites;" (Recommendations to Government, p.3)
American Thyroid Association (2019) statement in support of Ann Arbor City Resolution to Strengthen Emergency Planning, Dr. Thomas Giordano, Pathologist, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, ATA Board Member and Ann Arbor resident.
February 27, 2019