Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 00:41:58 +0000
Subject: Re: Pakistan/India


On 27 May 02, at 21:12, danceswithcarp wrote:
[ ... ]

> odds-on favorites to lose the conventional war) they will nuke so they 
> don't lose the weapons or the war.   India will then retaliate to show they 
> can play too.  Then there will be a Spasm.
> 
> This is a close thing.

Agreed. You may want to stock up on calcium and iodine 
supplements for the kids. This could turn into a very dirty 
exchange, with lots of ground bursts. Besides... vitamin 
supplements are a good idea, even without getting nuked first. ( 
and I thought we had left this crap behind us last century.... )

from http://people.smu.edu/rmonagha/shelter.html

Iodine
I would probably be remiss if I didn't remind you that iodine is one 
of the major dangers during a reactor accident. Iodine has a 
gaseous transfer mode, so it can rapidly spread and contaminate a 
large area quickly. Release of radioiodine is dangerous because 
iodine is preferentially concentrated in the thyroid gland. The 
radioiodine builds up and irradiates the thyroid, causing cancers 
and other problems. 

A partial solution is to take non-radioactive iodine tablets. 
Unfortunately, you may not find these at your local drugstore.
After Chernobyl, the value of such tablets is beyond doubt - except 
to the certain (ahem) governments who are afraid of causing a 
panic by stocking them. Special order yours now and avoid the 
wait. You can possibly benefit by using iodized salt in a pinch (pun 
intended). Some vitamin supplements, especially kelp and 
seaweeds, are iodine sources. This iodine issue is another reason 
to consider using tincture of iodine based water purification 
methods too. 

Vitamin and Mineral Supplements

Related to radio-iodine are the other ''bad'' radioisotopes that mimic 
other body needed elements (chiefly calcium as used in bones and 
teeth), and so get picked up from contaminated food and water. 
Radio-strontium and radio-cesium are two major examples. As with 
radio-iodine, providing a large stock of calcium before and during 
exposure can reduce the uptake of these radioactive alternates. 

Besides digestible calcium tablets (with vitamin D or other uptake 
enhancers), you should also look at a broad spectrum
mineral and vitamin supplements. Diets are likely to be proscribed 
after an attack, radiation damage will need to be rebuilt, and 
vitamin and other supplements have a role to play. Finally, some of 
us may be taking mega-doses of free radical reducing vitamins 
such as vitamin E and C as well as selenium and other 
supplements during and into the post attack period. I caution that 
whether such free radical scavenging vitamins and minerals will 
reduce the effects of radiation ionization is not fully studied. 
However, vitamins are well regarded for stress situations, such as 
shelter living, whether they have any other benefits or not.


 
--
Regards,
Kristopher Barrett