Iodine pills against nuclear radiation: because they are not needed in Italy

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the attacks on the Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plants triggered a run in pharmacies in several countries, including Italy, in search of tablets based on potassium iodide (KI), a compound used as drug against hyperthyroidism and as a protective factor in case of radiation emissions. But experts warn against do-it-yourself and advise against taking iodine without real need because it could have counterproductive effects and produce thyroid imbalances. In particular, in Italy, as Roberto Tobia, national secretary of Federfarma explained, “there is no reason to take iodine tablets to counter the inhalation of radioactive iodine present in the air since there are no nuclear power plants, nor alarms of radioactive leaks from Ukraine “. (LIVE – Ukraine-Russia War)

Because they are not needed in Italy

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In the Peninsula, requests for potassium iodide have been registered in pharmacies throughout Italy, especially in the North and in large cities. But “in Italy there is no therapeutic indication for the use of potassium iodide, so much so that iodine tablets are galenic preparations that pharmacists make on request, or there are supplements that also contain iodine” that can also be purchased in parapharmacies, at the supermarket and in herbalists, but “where it is not always explained how to behave correctly”, explained Tobia, president of PGEU, the grouping to which all the federations of pharmacists’ orders and the national associations of European pharmacies belong. Pharmacists, in addition to urging to avoid do-it-yourself, warn against buying iodine online, as “it escapes any possibility of having correct information for health“.

The situation outside Italy

Different situation outside Italy. “In 1986 iodine was recommended to the people of Chernobyl after the accident at the nuclear power plant. In Europe currently, in countries where there are nuclear power plants such as Belgium and the Netherlands, citizens have access to an alert system connected to mobile phones and when there is a need they are invited to collect iodine tablets for free from the pharmacy and take them. But this is not our case: in Italy there are no nuclear power plants, nor catastrophic events underway “, added Tobia.