About iodine
Because of the extreme run on iodine, it sold out worldwide in no time.
We wrote earlier about the "emergency protocol" prompted by the extreme increase in orders.
We once again have iodine products in stock.
Of course we have all read or heard about it: Russian president Vladimir Putin, who ordered his army to put ‘nuclear deterrents’ on alert. It did not take long before panic apparently struck many people, because on Monday there was a run on iodine tablets in the Netherlands and Belgium. A few days later there was a fire and fighting at the largest nuclear power station in Europe. That situation appears to have been brought under control quickly.
In Belgium, residents have been able to obtain iodine tablets free of charge for several years now, and on Monday some 30,000 Belgians made use of that by collecting them from pharmacies. It should also be said that, according to the specialists, it is always good to have these tablets at home, although in a nuclear attack they are of little use.
In the Netherlands too, demand for iodine tablets has risen enormously since Sunday, according to the Centraal Bureau Drogisterijbedrijven, the Dutch chemists' association. No statement is made, however, about how many of these iodine tablets have been or are being sold, or where. There are chemist chains such as Kruidvat and Trekpleister that have had no iodine tablets on the shelves for well over a year. How things stand at other chemists such as Etos or at independent chemists is unknown.
According to a spokesperson for the Centraal Bureau Drogisterijbedrijven, potassium iodide tablets are supplied to people who live within a certain distance of a nuclear power station. Chemists help with the distribution of those tablets but generally do not sell them. Besides the shops, distribution companies also hold no iodine tablets in stock.
In July 2021, everyone in the Netherlands up to and including the age of 40 who lives in the first ring around the nuclear power stations of Borssele (up to 20 km), Doel (up to 20 km) and Emsland (up to 25 km) received new iodine tablets. These replaced the iodine tablets distributed between 2010 and 2015.
On the website of Rijksoverheid.nl the following can be read: in a nuclear accident, radioactive substances can be released that spread through the air. One of those substances is radioactive iodine. Radioactive iodine can enter the body through inhalation and be taken up by the thyroid gland.
More than 1.2 million households in the vicinity of a nuclear reactor or nuclear power station in the Netherlands have iodine tablets at home. The chance of a nuclear accident happening is very small. But if it does happen, the iodine tablets are right at hand. That saves precious time.