DIY Potassium Iodide Pills for Preventing Radioactive Iodine Poisoning

As I was writing yesterday’s article on potassium iodide (KI) supplies in the event of nuclear war, I got to thinking of my little granddaughter.  Sweet Pea is almost 3 years old and has a mind of her own.  Nowhere near as compliant as her father, King of the Picky Eaters (KOTPE), who at her age was nicknamed Angel Boy.  Because he was.  (His siblings are going to puke.) 

She is also something of a picky eater.  Shocker.  Now whether that is because she truly is finicky or because she just doesn’t get all that hungry (she is still below the 1^st percentile on the growth charts) remains to be seen.  It’s hard to tell when people are always trying to get her to eat.  And like a lot of toddlers, she has a bit of a temper when life doesn’t go her way.

Combine all those issues, and I can imagine that trying to get her to swallow those nasty smelling KI tablets in the event of a nuclear accident or attack won’t work out well.  I can imagine that even if her parents got her to swallow them, she’d start vomiting those tablets right up sooner or later.  Probably sooner, and at a time when they won’t be replaceable.

A blog post last year provided instructions on crushing a KI tablet to make a liquid for administering to children.  I’m still not confident that small children will willingly swallow the KI liquid, maybe one or two doses, but not for a prolonged period a time.  The fact that older adults won’t be using this nasty medicine might make them even more upset and likely to rebel against taking it themselves.  (And yes, one of the links below provides information on how to paint povidone iodine on the skin to prevent radioactive iodine uptake, and that may be sufficient for infants and toddlers.  I just think it’s a good idea to have several options.)

In his Maintaining Nutritional Adequacy During a Prolonged Food Crisis, Cresson Kearny provided detailed instructions on preparing a saturated solution of KI that can then be used to make “pills” which are tasteless and odorless and therefore much easier to swallow.  (This crystalline or granular KI is available on Amazon.  You can buy it in clear Ziploc baggies like I did, or you can be smart and spend a couple pennies more to get a product that already comes in an opaque plastic bottle with a screw-top lid.)  Here are the directions straight from Kearny’s manual:

To prepare a saturated solution of KI, fill a bottle about 60% full of crystalline or granular KI. (A 2 fl oz bottle, made of dark glass and having a solid, screw-cap top, is a good size for a family.  About 2 oz of crystalline or granular KI is needed to fill a 2 fl oz bottle about 60% full.) Next, pour safe, room-temperature water into the bottle until it is about 90% full. Then close the bottle tightly and shake it vigorously for at least 2 minutes. Some of the solid KI should remain permanently undissolved at the bottom of the bottle; this is proof that the solution is saturated.

Potassium iodide has a very bad taste, so bad that a single crystal or 1 drop of the saturated solution in a small child’s mouth would make him cry. Since many persons will not take a bad-tasting medication, especially if no short-term health hazards are likely to result from not taking it, the following two methods of taking a saturated solution of KI are recommended.

1. Put 4 drops of the solution into a glass of milk or other beverage, stir, and drink quickly. Then drink some of the beverage with nothing added. If only water is available, use it in the same manner.

2. If there is bread or thick grain mush, place 4 drops of the solution on a piece of it; dampen and mold it into a firm ball the size of a large pea, about 3/8 inch in diameter. There is almost no taste if this “pill” is swallowed quickly with water. (If the pill is coated with margarine, there is no taste.)

As stated before, 4 drops of the saturated solution provide an adult dose approximately equal to 130 mg of KI.  

Use 2 drops for children ages 3 through 18 years and under 150 pounds.  Use 1 drop for children ages 1 month through 2 years.  For infants under the age of 1 month, put one dropperful of the saturated solution and 1 dropperful of water in a dark glass bottle and shake well.  Administer 1 drop of this solution each day.  Store in the refrigerator.  Discard unused portion after 1 week and make a new solution if needed.

Note.  One pound of chemical-reagent-grade KI will yield about 3500 doses of 130 mg each. Dry KI should be stored in a dark bottle having a solid, gasketted, screw-top lid.

Links to related posts:

Maintaining Nutritional Adequacy during a Prolonged Food Crisis

Nuclear Events:  Making a Potassium Iodide Liquid Mixture for Children  

Eleven Substances That Prevent Radiation Uptake and Eliminate Radiation from the Body

Do You Really Need Potassium Iodide Tablets?  

Betadine for Preparedness 

References:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/who-updates-list-of-medicines-to-stockpile-for-nuclear-emergencies/ar-AA16OsXS

https://www.foxnews.com/health/who-updates-list-medicines-governments-should-stockpile-case-nuclear-emergency  

https://www.calverthealth.org/healththreats/healthhazards/pi_usage.htm