Also, I’m pretty sure they have an expiration date. If it’s life or death, I would not trust them very far past that date. I don’t think they’d be harmful, just less effective.
I also have a few vials of liquid iodine. But it is harder to dose properly.
Unless you are directly in the path of very recent fall out (within 8 days) as an adult those pills probably won’t do much for you. By the time you start seeing the effects of radiation you’ll be in your 70s.
If you have to ration iodine pills prioritize kids and teenagers and young adults. They would live long enough after the event to deal with cancer and its affects.
You can expect KI to expire like NaCl does.
The filler might be not ok after a long amount of time, but the KI will be and that’s what saves your thyroid.
Here’s some info regarding dosage:
Iodide ion, as present in KI, does not decay. Period. It’s that ion that your body requires. The tablets would serve their purpose for long after they are purchased.
As a chemist, I will go ahead and inform you confidently that Potassium Iodide in a dry place will outlast you by a significant margin. It’s very chemically stable.
Probably to account for people who won’t store it properly, degradation of the packaging material, etc.
For example, if you store your blister pack of KI on a sunny shelf in your bathroom, UV rays eventually weaken the plastic packaging, cracks develop in the plastic letting in water vapor from your shower, and a stray mold space makes its way in as well and eventually you end up with mold growing on your pills. The KI itself may still be perfectly fine and able to do its job, but that mold might make you sick.
Idiodin itself can’t get “bad” in any way. The carrier material might go bad, but that’s also just starches and a few mineral compounds. At worst, you get powder instead of a pill.
The expiration dates on medication are intentionally extremely conservative.
Also, I’m pretty sure they have an expiration date. If it’s life or death, I would not trust them very far past that date. I don’t think they’d be harmful, just less effective.
Iodine like salt is a mineral. It won’t ever “go bad” but the USDA requires that you put expiration dates on consumables.
I have several packets of iodine pills they don’t cost much and I keep them with my bug out bag.
Which formulation of iodine is the one to get?
Here are the pills.
https://a.co/d/cxMjVpR
I also have a few vials of liquid iodine. But it is harder to dose properly.
Unless you are directly in the path of very recent fall out (within 8 days) as an adult those pills probably won’t do much for you. By the time you start seeing the effects of radiation you’ll be in your 70s.
If you have to ration iodine pills prioritize kids and teenagers and young adults. They would live long enough after the event to deal with cancer and its affects.
You can expect KI to expire like NaCl does.
The filler might be not ok after a long amount of time, but the KI will be and that’s what saves your thyroid.
Here’s some info regarding dosage:
from: https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/potassium-iodide-thyroid-blocking-agent-radiation-emergencies
What does potassium iodide decay into? It’s not an organic compound.
Iodide ion, as present in KI, does not decay. Period. It’s that ion that your body requires. The tablets would serve their purpose for long after they are purchased.
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I don’t know, I’m not any kind of chemist. I trust the actual chemists to tell me how long the pills will be trustworthy.
As a chemist, I will go ahead and inform you confidently that Potassium Iodide in a dry place will outlast you by a significant margin. It’s very chemically stable.
What’s the date for, then?
They’re required to put some date, and nobody wants to pay for a 50-year medical study to show what chemists already know: KI will still be KI.
Regulation compliance probably
Probably to account for people who won’t store it properly, degradation of the packaging material, etc.
For example, if you store your blister pack of KI on a sunny shelf in your bathroom, UV rays eventually weaken the plastic packaging, cracks develop in the plastic letting in water vapor from your shower, and a stray mold space makes its way in as well and eventually you end up with mold growing on your pills. The KI itself may still be perfectly fine and able to do its job, but that mold might make you sick.
Idiodin itself can’t get “bad” in any way. The carrier material might go bad, but that’s also just starches and a few mineral compounds. At worst, you get powder instead of a pill.
The expiration dates on medication are intentionally extremely conservative.