What iodine tablets Nicegirls?........the ones that one or other Fianna Fail minister distributed to every household in 2002 are long out of date. In fact in 2008, the Department of Health and Children recommended that they be disposed of as ordinary household waste.
Decision to Discontinue the Future Distribution of Iodine Tablets
Wow, those people are idiots. The expiry date on iodine tablets is the normal criteria for expiry on supplements.
http://www.fagg-afmps.be/en/news/news_iode_18_10_2010.jsp
Is it safe to take KI tablets with an expired shelf-life?
Yes, potassium iodide tablets are inherently stable and do not lose their effectiveness over time. Manufacturers must label their products with a shelf-life to ensure that consumers purchase safe and useful products.
According to FDA guidance on Shelf-life ExtensionPDF Icon exit icon, studies over many years have confirmed that none of the components of KI tablets, including the active ingredient, has any significant potential for chemical degradation or interaction with other components or with components of the container closure system when stored according to labeled directions. To date, the only observed changes during stability (shelf-life) testing have been the failure of some batches of KI tablets to meet dissolution specifications. Some tablets tested required slightly longer than the specified time to achieve dissolution. Even in the case of a failure of this sort, the product remains usable. In such cases, instructions can be provided to crush the tablets and mix them with a juice or other liquid prior to administration as suggested for emergency pediatric dosing.
http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/emerg-preparedness/about-emerg-preparedness/potassium-iodide/ki-faq.html#kiexpired
I knew they had past their "best before" date, I didn't realize they were actively encouraging people to flush the tablets down the toilet!!
It just goes to show the mentality of wastage and flushing things away without even questioning what they're doing. So before March they are completely effective, after March you should "dispose" of them. I'd rather take a little expired iodine than be exposed to lethal amounts of radiation!!!! Do these people have any brains... the expiry date comes and they say we should flush them down the toilet. It was a waste to get them in the first place... then actively saying to throw them away the day they hit their best before date. You couldn't make this stuff up. It's like these individuals are programmed to waste as much as they possibly can and instinctively do that, it's their nature.
I was joking about "as long as you take your iodine tablets", obviously nobody is taking them for this.
Last edited by nicegirlsarenice; 30-03-11 at 11:18.
Here it says Potassium Iodate (the specific type the Irish government gave out), is even more stable than the very stable Potassium Iodide mentioned above as hardly deteriorating at all:
This is the 'new kid on the block' commercially offered here in the U.S. for preventative thyroid blocking of radioiodine. With its extra molecule of oxygen, making it KIO3, its U.S. manufacturer, Medical Corps, claims it is/has...
extended shelf life
no bitter taste
cheaper per dose
KIO3 has an iodine content of 60%, so two 85 mg tablets (170 mg total, one adult dose) works out to 103 mg of available iodine. (That's very similar to Potassium Iodide (KI), with its iodine content of 76.5%, to where each 130 mg tablet of Potassium Iodide (KI) has 99.45 mg of iodine available.)...
Regarding the extended KIO3 shelf-life; it is more stable as KIO3 is non-hygroscopic (very stable in humid air) where Potassium Iodide (KI) will readily dissolve in water. However, to put this into perspective, Potassium Iodide (KI) tablets SEALED in their original packaging have also been tested, many years after it was manufactured and 'expired', and found to be quite stable and maintaining full strength. See Potassium Iodide (KI) stability report below here.
(http://www.ki4u.com/FAQ-part-2.htm#8)
The only information I have regarding a difference in the two forms is the storage life. As TGA do not seem to like more than 5 years for an expiry date this did not seem important.
http://www.surfingtheapocalypse.net/forum/index.php?id=33357
The expiry date just means that you may not be receiving the exact amount of Iodine after it is past it, you might be receiving only 95% or 90% of it.
This is the sort of thing that happens when you have a ridiculously incompetent government and in particular health "care" system. And don't try and tell me it would be all different now.
Last edited by nicegirlsarenice; 30-03-11 at 11:26.