Health unit to distribute KI pills to Kingsville residents

Kingsville residents are next in line for the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit’s ongoing distribution of potassium iodide (KI) pills to be used in the event of a nuclear incident.

The health unit is making the pills available to Kingsville residents living in a secondary zone — 80 kilometres from the Enrico Fermi 2 nuclear generating station on the shore of Lake Erie in Newport, near Monroe, Mich. — as a precautionary measure.

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Officials are encouraging Kingsville residents to pick up a package of the pills, which block the thyroid from absorbing radioactive iodine that may be released during a nuclear incident. KI pills would help to prevent the development of thyroid cancer due to exposure.

Residents who previously obtained the pills should note those KI pills are past their expiration date and should be discarded in household garbage or by dropping the off at a pharmacy.

Only in an emergency: a package of potassium iodide (KI) pills. Photo by Craig Robertson /Postmedia News

KI pills should only be taken if instructed by the health unit’s medical officer of health to do so. Pills should be stored in a safe, dry, accessible place along with the household’s 72-hour emergency kit.

Officials advise that while the level of risk has not changed at Fermi 2, the regulatory framework for Canadian nuclear installations has been updated.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has mandated that all residents within the primary zone of a nuclear installation have KI pills available in their homes and while Fermi 2 is not regulated by the Canadian commission, health unit officials want residents living within the primary and secondary zones of Fermi 2 to be as prepared as all other Canadian residents.

Pickup of KI pills for Kingsville residents is April 24, between 2 and 6 p.m., at the Kingsville Arena Complex, 1741 Jasperson Ln.

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