The Observation
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This is the observation which led me to do research on Chernobyl accident. Last week as usual I was having headache and had no pills with me for it. There is one Apteeki(pharmacy) downstairs but my pounding headache didn’t allow me to go and buy it from there.
I remembered there is a first aid box in our office kitchen and wanted to try my luck in it. I opened the box and found it full of plasters, medicine patches, thermometer and two bottles of pills. Those pills were not of headache but one of the pills was “Jodix, 130Mg” manufactured by Orion Pharmaceuticals. The pill can be seen in the picture below.
This pill caught my attention. This is the pill you are supposed to take when you are exposed to radioactivity! I have seen first aid boxes in lot of places in India - in school, church, bus, plane, office, etc. In my school day it was one of our science projects to make a first aid box and we had to put contents like Band-aid, Dettol, pair of scissors, bandage, etc. But never pill for radioactivity. So, why it is in the first aid box of one of the office in Finland? My office has nothing to do with radioactivity, nor is there any other source of radioactivity nearby.
My mind was racing, when else it could be used? May be during nuclear attack and Finland never had good relations with Russia. But I don’t think anyone would get time to reach first aid box in case of nuclear attack, moreover this possibility was also preposterous. May be someone nukes Russia and Finland being the immediate neighbour we get exposed. But this idea was equally ridiculous. It is in this moment Chernobyl came in my thought. But how much was Finland affected by it? I did my research and Yes, Finland was indeed one of the heavily affected countries. I am sure that Chernobyl could have been the reason for all the Finnish first aid boxes to keep pill for radioactivity.
This is just my analysis and I am still not sure. If someone has any other details I would appreciate.
This is the observation which led me to do research on Chernobyl accident. Last week as usual I was having headache and had no pills with me for it. There is one Apteeki(pharmacy) downstairs but my pounding headache didn’t allow me to go and buy it from there.
I remembered there is a first aid box in our office kitchen and wanted to try my luck in it. I opened the box and found it full of plasters, medicine patches, thermometer and two bottles of pills. Those pills were not of headache but one of the pills was “Jodix, 130Mg” manufactured by Orion Pharmaceuticals. The pill can be seen in the picture below.
This pill caught my attention. This is the pill you are supposed to take when you are exposed to radioactivity! I have seen first aid boxes in lot of places in India - in school, church, bus, plane, office, etc. In my school day it was one of our science projects to make a first aid box and we had to put contents like Band-aid, Dettol, pair of scissors, bandage, etc. But never pill for radioactivity. So, why it is in the first aid box of one of the office in Finland? My office has nothing to do with radioactivity, nor is there any other source of radioactivity nearby.
My mind was racing, when else it could be used? May be during nuclear attack and Finland never had good relations with Russia. But I don’t think anyone would get time to reach first aid box in case of nuclear attack, moreover this possibility was also preposterous. May be someone nukes Russia and Finland being the immediate neighbour we get exposed. But this idea was equally ridiculous. It is in this moment Chernobyl came in my thought. But how much was Finland affected by it? I did my research and Yes, Finland was indeed one of the heavily affected countries. I am sure that Chernobyl could have been the reason for all the Finnish first aid boxes to keep pill for radioactivity.
This is just my analysis and I am still not sure. If someone has any other details I would appreciate.
posted by greensatya @ 2:50 PM
12 Comments:
At 3:20 PM,
Raj said…
You are my only source of information regarding radioactivity in Finland so I cant really offer an alternative reason. This was fun to read tho.
You are probably correct abt the reason unless the country is preparing itself for nuclear winter.
At 5:12 PM,
XVSA013 said…
dude .. i also dont know ... if Chernobyl affected Finns, then its logical that they have radio activity ...
besides, if US nuked St. Petersburg or even Moscow, Finland will have to suffer the fallout ...
i think its a logical conclusion.
mowgli told you before.
why is green saying its ridiculous?
At 5:25 PM,
heardth said…
I believe data mining through the net might have turn out some radioactivity stuff on neighbouring countries of Ukraine.
I remember a Prof during my exchange stint in Finland talking about the radioactive cloud and stuff. I believe reindeers were also culled during those dangerous times. Cows were affected too. Yup. Oh, lichens do take in radioactive material and reindeers eat lichens, no?
At 5:47 PM,
greensatya said…
Raj - No, I don't think country is preparing for nuclear winter. I have Finnish audience on my blog , though they don't comment much. Let's hope someone comments and throw light on this.
Mowgli - Green said the idea is ridiculous cause it is ridiculous. In present time when Russia is a partner nation of NATO (thereby ending the cold war) there is no chance of US nuking Russia. The only time these two nations came to nuclear war lasted for 13 days (better known as Cuban missile crisis. USSR was to nuke US from missiles established in Cuba and US from its missile sites in Turkey. Now the sites in USSR which could be conveniently hit were western states- Ukraine, Belarus. But this was 1962. Today I even will find nuke war between India and Pakistan to be highly impossible.
So there Mowgli !!
lham - hmm, I am pretty sure that neighbouring countries of Urkraine indeed got radioactivity. It is not only by data mining from net :D
You are true with culling of reindeer. It was moose hunting season and though hunting was allowed but ppl were asked not to eat moose. I don't have much information on it.
At 9:14 AM,
Anonymous said…
Let's see if I can shed some light on this issue..
All citizens of Finland have iodine pills reserved for them. We have them at offices, we have them at each shelter in each apartment building. And yes, they're there for radioactive fallout. The most likely reason for a fallout is not nuclear war but rather a reactor accident, be it at a Finnish nuclear facility, at a Russian nuclear facility, a nuclear-powered submarine or other vessel in the Baltic or whatever else.
In case of such an accident, radioactive fallout could easily reach Finland within hours given (un)favorable winds. If that were to happen, nobody should rush to their first-aid cabinets and swallow the iodine - instead, the government will instruct you when to take it (which will be before, but not too long before, the radioactive fallout).
Of course, iodine only protects your thyroid (for more info, see e.g. http://www.fda.gov/cder/guidance/4825fnl.htm) but it's better than nothing.
STUK (Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Association) also has a downloadable book on nuclear safety, unfortunately only in Finnish. See http://www.stuk.fi/julkaisut_maaraykset/kirjasarja/fi_FI/kirjasarja5/ and especially chapter 5 on preparation for nuclear facility incidents and accidents.
At 10:41 AM,
greensatya said…
Sami- Thanks, now it becomes clear. So the pills are indeed for radioactive fallout and I think it is a good idea to keep them handy.
I think this should be done in India as well considering we have are more prone to nuclear disasters(civilian or military).
Is it from very begining or this practice of keeping iodine pills started after the Chernobyl accident ?
Iodine reminds me of one more thing. In India we gets salts which have speck of iodine mixed in it and it is illegal to sell plain salts there. This was put in practice due to the fact that many regions of India have less of natural iodine in farm products and such.
At 4:47 PM,
Y said…
Ok, now all my curiousness is satiated. But you have quite an inquisitive mind. That was good thought process
At 8:21 AM,
greensatya said…
Sher- Thanks. You know it is now 16 months for me in Finland and yet there are so many things here which still surpises me.
At 1:19 PM,
Anonymous said…
In the US we have iodized salt as well. Iodine is something the body requires in small quantities and there are health issues for those whose diets are lacking.
I'm not sure what the problems are that arise.
soyyo
At 3:04 PM,
greensatya said…
Soyyo, I can't read the salt packets in here but I think they are un-iodised.
So it is same in USA, I didn't know this. Deficiency of iodine leads to enlargement of thyroid glands in throat.
At 8:58 AM,
Anonymous said…
Salt in Finland is "iodized" (i.e. with iodine) as well.
At 10:55 AM,
greensatya said…
Sami - is it ? All these days I thought they were non-iodized...
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