This is not intended as advice, so I am not recommending that anyone go out and take potassium iodide, except perhaps through natural supplements and natural foods like seaweed. Though I am also not suggesting it would hurt to have some pills designed for use in nuclear emergencies on hand.
I don't know about this source as it seems a bit hysterical and poorly edited:
http://www.eutimes.net/2014/01/underground-nuclear-explosion-at-crippled-japan-atomic-plant-shocks-world/Haven't looked to see if the search at this link is a bunch of parrots, or includes some credible reporting of the explosion of a few days ago.
https://www.google.com/#q=explosion+at+fukushima+december+31Maybe a bunch of tin foil hat stuff, but I don't believe things have all been resolved at Fukushima, as yet. Since it is reported (however credibly or incredibly) that the government is ordering millions of potassium iodide tablets, it probably wouldn't hurt to have some on hand.
Here's how PI works. When you take potassium iodide it "fills up" your thyroid gland with the necessary iodine, thus precluding it from having an interest in absorbing
radioactive iodine from fallout.
Particularly critical if a person is deficient in iodine, which is likely, since our diet isn't very high in sea vegetables (like seaweed). Thus the radioiodine would be more quickly and eagerly absorbed by our thyroids.
Please investigate and decide for yourselves, which course of action, including which dietary supplement might suit you best. Even eating a lot of seaweed would help tremendously.
Though might even that present a danger if it comes from the Pacific? I'm clueless.
http://www.examiner.com/article/fukushima-meltdown-2-underground-nuclear-explosions-at-crippled-plant-on-dec-31IF there SHOULD BE an emergency, and the U.S. government tells everyone to take potassium iodide, there likely will be none available. This from the CDC
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/ki.aspOne of the FDA approved
emergency pill sources that they list:
http://www.anbex.com/This on radioactive fallout and PI and the thyroid:
http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/ConsumerAlert/Radiation.aspx