MRE's FAQ - Military-Style Meals Ready to Eat & Sources

Nuclear Blast & Fallout Shelters FAQ One-Stop Straight FAQ's with free plans, books & ready made shelter sources!

Civil Defense Radiation Detection Survey Meters, Geiger Counters and Dosimeters FAQ! Straight FAQ's on FEMA Surplus Civil Defense Meters with Retail and Wholesale Sources Listed!

Last Updated: September 23rd, 2009

Plan "B" for anyone caught without KI or KIO3 tablets in a nuclear emergency... Few realize that there are viable alternatives to achieve a thyroid-blocking dose of safe iodine in a nuclear emergency when KI or KIO3 tablets are in short supply or not available in the locale where needed. (Also, to date, there currently aren't enough tablets that have been produced nationally, yet, to protect even 4% of the population!) The following should be of interest to everyone, even those who have already secured a personal family supply of KI or KIO3 tablets, as these Plan "B" alternatives can be shared far and wide with extended family, friends, neighbors and your community-at-large. Especially vital, too, to get this information out to your local doctors, pharmacists, community leaders AND Congressional Representatives! These two following alternatives could protect many thousands more than all the KI and KIO3 tablets currently available anywhere. #1 - Anyone can buy, without restriction, Potassium Iodide USP at a local chemical supply house (and even some larger photo supply outlets, but make sure it's "USP Grade") and readily mix up their own Potassium Iodide (KI) solution that is every bit as effective as the tablets. Also, we were recently reminded by a science teacher, that every town in America likely has a ready and waiting supply of KI sitting in their high school science labs that could protect hundreds of their students and local residents! A single 500 gram bottle of KI (USP, reagent, or chromatographic grade), now already on many of their shelves, could provide 3,846 adult daily doses or 7,692 child (age 3-12) thyroid-blocking doses! Also, Stanley L. Rapaport, M.D. had shared with me (2/15/03) that he has been trying to point the following out to the Surgeon General, Homeland Security, and Armed Forces Surgeon Generals. If the government bought KI in bulk, which then is not very expensive and would work out to about .01 cents per child dose, an easy distribution program could be at the ready in every community in the nation! As Dr. Rapaport explains; "Bulk purchases must be repackaged from 100# to appropriate sized packages depending on city size and proposed stockpile locations. There are 3492 adult doses per pound or 6984 children’s doses per pound. Stored in appropriate location viz. pharmacies, fire or police stations. Made up into a solution of 130mg per 5cc. (1 pound of Potassium Iodide to 17.5 liters of water) gives a solution where one teaspoonful equals one adult dose, 1/2 teaspoonful equals a children’s dose and so forth as per schedule below. Dispensed from appropriate sites including the hospital , parking lots, drive bys, etc. in any container as is very stable. Paper cups, drink bottles, with dosage directions. Taken for ten days (even one dose is markedly effective) or as directed via appropriate authorities. Solution is somewhat unpleasant and can be masked by honey, syrup, soft drink, additional water, etc. The solution as made up is equal to 130mg per 5cc (1 teaspoonful) Adult dose is 1 teaspoonful Ages 3-18 1/2 teaspoonful Ages 1 month to 3 years 1/4 teaspoonful Age 1 month or less 1/8 teaspoonful" As Dr. Rapaport details above, this is all too easy to have in-place and ready to go, and rightly deserves serious consideration by our government officials tasked with safeguarding public health at all levels; federal, state, and municipal. Most locales at risk of exposure would have enough time to do a quick drive-through ad-hoc set-up dispensing of it because radioactive iodine is dangerous for over 500 km (310 miles), as Chernobyl proved, and it would take time for the wind to carry it into many communities well downwind of ground zero. There would be enough time to save many, IF powdered KI had been pre-positioned! Right now, there have not been enough KI tablets produced in all the country to cover even 4% of the population, and the KI powder, IF pre-positioned in every community with a simple set of instructions, would fill this void and potentially save 10's of thousands of America's children from future thyroid cancer. This is clearly a legitimate Federal Government public health responsibility, as radioactive fallout travelling on the wind will not respect state borders. The Federal Govt has the opportunity here to be seen as heros to have addressed this issue in advance, or risk being condemned as derelict in their duties if they had failed to, when the need arises. (Most all other developed nations in the world had acquired emergency stocks of KI after Chernobyl.) Currently the total Federal Government stockpile consists of 1 million doses held by the CDC and another 600,000 doses (half of which we sold them) held by the Office of Emergency Preparedness. That's only enough for 1.6 million people, for ONE day, and then it's all gone! And, even that small stockpile, is unlikely to be where it will be most needed when the time comes! In the meantime, we are also stockpiling here at KI4U, Inc., besides millions of the KI tablets, an emergency reserve of over 2,000 pounds of USP grade KI, same as what goes into the KI tablets, enough for over 7 million adult doses or over 14 million child doses. This reserve is exclusively for rush shipping to government agencies (federal, state, municipal) if/when they find themselves being faced with a nuclear emergency. Hopefully, they'll each get their own stockpiles pre-positioned well in advance, but just-in-case they don't in time, we'll do what we can to fill the gap. We also have some additional 100# drums of USP grade Potassium Iodide (KI) available and set aside for purchase by anyone or any group right now, before an emergency. Contact: Shane Connor for details. On the local level, community leaders need to pull together their resourceful science teachers, local pharmacists and doctors to fully explore the resources already at hand and available for any future nuclear emergency that might befall their locale. You might could be responsible for saving many in your community from future thyroid cancer by simply bringing this to the attention of these local authorities and experts! There are two kinds of Potassium Iodide (KI) solutions that can be made. Saturated and anything less than saturated, and both of these two simple formulas and dosing recommendations, along with more details, are at the Potassium Iodide Anti-Radiation Pill FAQ at the Q&A section entitled: How Do You Make a Potassium Iodide (KI) Solution? #2 - ALSO, EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE TOLD: It is poisonous to ingest (drink/swallow) elemental iodine, iodine tablets (widely sold for water purification), tincture of iodine, or Povidone-iodine solutions (like the Betadine® brand solution). They are all both ineffective for thyroid-blocking and very dangerous, perhaps even fatal to have a child drink any of them. However, there has been some promising research, though, with both humans and dogs into topically (on the skin) applied Povidone-Iodine (10%) solution (such as Betadine® or Povidex® solutions), and also with tincture of iodine, to test the absorption rates of iodine directly, and safely, through the skin. According to research by Health Physicist Ken Miller, Hershey Medical Center, using 24 healthy adult male subjects, an adult could get a blocking dose of stable iodine by painting 8 ml of a 2 percent tincture of Iodine on the abdomen or forearm approximately 2 hours prior to I-131 contamination. The abstract of his study titled "Effectiveness of Skin Absorption of Tincture of I in Blocking Radioiodine from the Human Thyroid Gland" from Health Physics, June 1989, Vol. 56, No. 6, pages 911-914, states: "Although there were large variations within each subject group in regard to serum-I levels and thyroid uptakes, the increase in serum-I concentration after topical-I application was effective in reducing the thyroid uptake of I131. The authors conclude that in the absence of KI, most humans would benefit from topical application of tincture of-I, and that in some the effectiveness would equal that of oral KI." More details (and links to this research) on these topical applications (readily available at your local pharmacy) can be found at the Potassium Iodide Anti-Radiation Pill FAQ at the Q&A section entitled: Is Iodized Salt, Tincture of Iodine, Water Purification Tabs, or other Iodine Sources Effective? Again, here too, you might could be responsible for saving many in your community from future thyroid cancer by simply bringing this research to the attention of your friends, neighbors, relatives, local officials, pharmacists and doctors! #3 - EDUCATION of the public to basic Civil Defense is essential! Promoting the public and private distribution, and publication in local newspapers, of WHAT TO DO IF A NUCLEAR DISASTER IS IMMINENT! can literally empower millions of Americans with the life-saving knowledge to respond correctly in a future nuclear crisis. Start with your own local community today to get this vital information out via your local government, media, churches and community organizations. Banish panic as you help your community embrace these simple life-saving preparations! Remember, too, as often mentioned on the FAQ, touch bases with your personal physician now to assure that there isn't any reason you, or your children, shouldn't take KI or KIO3 in a future nuclear emergency. (An iodine allergy is the usual disqualifying condition, if any, but only your doctor knows your full medical history and current medications to make that determination.) Asking them now, before any emergency would likely make that impossible to do so, is just another part of your prudent preparations here. Shane Connor KI4U, Inc. Resume