Norwegian Directorate of Health asks municipalities to review iodine emergency preparedness level
The Norwegian Directorate of Health asks the country's municipalities to review iodine preparedness levels for children under 18, pregnant women, and women who are breastfeeding.
The Norwegian Directorate of Health asks the country’s municipalities to review iodine preparedness levels for children under 18, pregnant women, and women who are breastfeeding.
Since 2017, such tablets have been recommended as a contingency measure by the Directorate for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (DSA) and the Norwegian Directorate of Health.
According to the Norwegian Directorate of Health, approximately 2.2 million tablets have been stored in the municipalities for this purpose. In addition, people between the ages of 18 and 40 are recommended to buy iodine tablets at pharmacies as a self-preparedness measure.
Higher risk
“Although no emissions from nuclear power plants in Ukraine have been reported, the risk of accidents and incidents is higher than normal due to the war in the country,” assistant health director Espen Rostrup Nakstad noted in a press release.
“Therefore, we ask the municipalities to go through their systems and make sure that iodine tablets can be made available to children under 18 years, pregnant women, and women who are breastfeeding at short notice,” he added.
If a situation of radioactive fallout that affects Norway arises, as happened after the Chernobyl accident in 1986, taking such a tablet could prevent the uptake of radioactive iodine into the thyroid gland, which poses a risk of cancer in young people.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
