{"id":4730,"date":"2011-03-28T05:42:06","date_gmt":"2011-03-28T03:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ultimatefatburner.com\/?p=4730"},"modified":"2015-03-09T11:58:29","modified_gmt":"2015-03-09T15:58:29","slug":"ftc-warning-potassium-iodide-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/ftc-warning-potassium-iodide-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"FTC Warning About Potassium Iodide Scams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/press-releases\/2011\/03\/ftc-warns-consumers-about-scam-artists-pitch-potassium-iodide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The agency press release pretty much speaks for itself&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Recent reports of events in Japan are causing scam artists to try to convince consumers that they need potassium iodide pills and drops to protect themselves.\u00a0 Potassium iodide, or KI, can help prevent thyroid cancer, which is one of the biggest risks from contamination with radioactive iodine.\u00a0 However, public health experts agree that U.S. residents should not buy or take potassium iodide unless specifically notified or instructed by public health officials.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nThe Federal Trade Commission, the nation\u2019s consumer protection agency, cautions that fraudsters follow the headlines, tailoring their offers to prey on current consumer fears and vulnerabilities.\u00a0 The FTC,\u00a0the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration, urge consumers to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Consult their doctors before they buy: \u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Some people are allergic to iodine and shouldn&#8217;t take potassium iodide. \u00a0(A seafood or shellfish allergy doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean that you are allergic to iodine.) \u00a0If you are unsure about this, consult your doctor.\u00a0 People with certain skin conditions (for example, dermatitis herpetiformis or hypocomplementemic vasculitis), as well as people with nodular thyroid with heart disease, should not take KI.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Understand that taking potassium iodide <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">cannot:<\/span> <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>prevent radioactive iodine from entering the body. \u00a0It can protect the thyroid, but not other parts of the body, from radioactive iodine.<\/li>\n<li>reverse the health effects caused by radioactive iodine once damage to the thyroid has occurred.<\/li>\n<li>protect the body from radioactive elements other than radioactive iodine. \u00a0If radioactive iodine is not present, taking potassium iodide will not help.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>At this point in time, there&#8217;s no radiation risk to US residents&#8230; nor is there likely to be. While\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.health.harvard.edu\/blog\/update-harmful-radiation-from-japan-is-not-reaching-the-united-states%E2%80%94no-need-for-americans-to-take-potassium-iodide-201103272138\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trace amounts of iodine-131\u00a0may turn up here and there<\/a>,\u00a0thyroid-protective doses\u00a0of\u00a0potassium iodide\u00a0are not necessary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The agency press release pretty much speaks for itself&#8230; Recent reports of events in Japan are causing scam artists to try to convince consumers that they need potassium [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[28],"tags":[1304],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4730"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4730"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10027,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4730\/revisions\/10027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}