The American Thyroid Association released a study of potassium iodide on September 28, 2002. In that statement the Association endorsed potassium iodide for radiation emergencies. To support this conclusion, the Association reviewed the disaster at Chernobyl. “After the 1986 Chornobyl (formerly called Chernobyl) nuclear accident, strong winds blew a radioactive cloud over much of eastern Europe. As many as 3,000 people exposed to that radiation have already developed thyroid cancer. Most were babies or young children living in Ukraine, Belarus, or Russia at the time of the accident. According to a UN report released in February 2002, another 8,000 to 10,000 exposed people may develop thyroid cancer within the next 10 years. Poland, immediately adjacent to Belarus and Ukraine, distributed KI (potassium iodide) to its population and does not appear to have had an increase in thyroid cancer.” Chernobyl not only proved that potassium iodide was effective in preventing thyroid cancer, it also showed that its distribution should not be limited to 10 or 20 miles. No one can predict how a radioactive cloud may spread. After the disaster at Chernobyl, higher than expected rates of thyroid cancer were found more than 200 miles away from the nuclear plant. back to top More than twenty years after the disaster, radiation still escapes from the Chernobyl site.