KI pills available for all area residents and businesses near nuclear generating stations

Whitby, Ontario – May 4 to 10 is Emergency Preparedness Week and Durham Region Health Department is reminding all residents and businesses within 10 kilometres of the Pickering or Darlington nuclear generating stations to have a supply of potassium iodide (KI) pills on hand as a preparedness measure. This recommendation is also aimed at pregnant and breastfeeding individuals, as well as parents of infants, children and adolescents as KI is both safe and most effective for these groups.

KI is a stable iodine salt that helps in reducing the risk of thyroid cancer in the event of a radioactive iodine release. Newborns, infants, children, adolescents and pregnant and breastfeeding individuals are at the highest risk of negative health effects to the thyroid from radioactive iodine. As a result, these individuals should be the first to receive KI pills in the highly unlikely event of a nuclear accident. If such an incident were to occur, KI pills are only to be taken when instructed to do so by Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health.

As directed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) in 2015, Durham Region provided an initial pre-distribution of potassium iodide (KI) pills to all residents and businesses within a 10-kilometre radius of the Pickering and Darlington nuclear generating stations. This initiative ensured that KI pills were available to the affected population. Current residents, businesses, and newcomers to these communities are encouraged to confirm that they have an adequate supply of KI pills readily available.

“Everyone living or working in the area near Durham Region’s two nuclear generating stations are encouraged to check that they have a supply of KI pills on hand,” said Anthony Di Pietro, Director, Health Protection with Durham Region Health Department. “In addition, as part of the increased safety standards from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, anyone living within 50 kilometres of a nuclear generating station is also eligible to receive free KI pills by visiting preparetobesafe.ca to order a supply.”

The Health Department has developed promotional videos to help educate the public about the purpose of KI pills, where to store pills, when to take them, where to order them and to help increase overall awareness. The videos can be viewed on the Health Department’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/DurhamHealth. Durham Region residents can also find information about KI pills in 10 languages by visiting preparetobesafe.ca.

A limited supply of KI pills is available free of charge at some local area pharmacies. The Health Department works in partnership with these pharmacies to help with local distribution:

• Bay Ridges Pharmacy, 1794 Liverpool Rd., Pickering
• Pickering Medical Pharmacy, 1885 Glenanna Rd., Pickering
• Liverpool Pharmacy, 725 Krosno Blvd., Pickering
• Global Drug Mart Remedy’s Rx, 130 Waverly Rd., Bowmanville
• Courtice Pharmasave, 2727 Courtice Rd., Courtice

For more information or to obtain a free supply of KI pills, visit preparetobesafe.ca, or call Durham Health Connection Line at 905-668-2020 or 1-800-841-2729.

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For more information, please contact the Health Department.