Why are people buying the pills, and would they actually help after a blast?
is now greater than it has been in decades. Many people are spooked. The price of potassium iodide pills, a potential survival aid, has increased on Amazon by about 50% since the invasion began. But why are people buying the pills, and would they actually help in a blast?
One of the most insidious dangers of a strategic nuclear weapon is the copious amount of radiation it would release. After an attack, radioactive fallout would rain down from the sky, poisoning those exposed to it. That can lead to severe illness and death. Potassium iodide can help, but only up to a point. It stops the thyroid, a gland in the neck, from absorbing radioactive iodine.
But they are not a cure-all. Potassium iodide tablets only stop your thyroid from absorbing radioactive iodine. They do not protect other parts of the body, and they do not protect you from other radioactive elements in the fallout, such as caesium, americium and strontium. Nor can the pills protect you from the many other more immediate dangers posed by a nuclear blast.
To survive all of that would be difficult, though not impossible—around half of Hiroshima’s residents survived its 1945 attack, although the bomb was much less powerful than those in today’s arsenals. Shelter, ideally underground, offers some protection from a blast. A supply of food and water and first-aid kits are useful for any emergency. And if you were to be exposed to fallout, wiping yourself down would reduce your chances of becoming sick.
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