Potassium iodide distributors have a friend on Twitter:
A Twitter battle over the size of each "nuclear button" possessed by President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong-un has spiked sales of a drug that protects against radiation poisoning.
Troy Jones, who runs the website www.nukepills.com, said demand for potassium iodide soared last week, after Trump tweeted that he had a "much bigger & more powerful" button than Kim — a statement that raised new fears about an escalating threat of nuclear war. "On Jan. 2, I basically got in a month's supply of potassium iodide and I sold out in 48 hours," said Jones, 53, who is a top distributor of the drug in the United States. His Mooresville, N.C., firm sells all three types of the product approved by the Food and Drug Administration. No prescription is required.
In that two-day period, Jones said, he shipped about 140,000 doses of potassium iodide, also known as KI, which blocks the thyroid from absorbing radioactive iodine and protects against the risk of cancer. Without the tweet, he typically would have sent out about 8,400 doses to private individuals, he said. Jones also sells to government agencies, hospitals and universities, which aren't included in that count.
Alan Morris, president of the Williamsburg, Va.-based pharmaceutical firm Anbex Inc., which distributes potassium iodide, said he's seen a bump in demand, too. "We are a wonderful barometer of the level of anxiety in the country," said Morris.
Note: A comment on the article claims that Nukepills is massively overcharging for the substance.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @12:09AM
Not sure how this relates to Potassium Iodide. Potassium Iodide is a prophylactic to reduce exposure to radioactive Iodine. Beat glucan appears to ameliorate some side effects of cancer therapy. My PR center in my brain is writing this, and assuring you that it is out of love to you and every other Soylent News reader. My hidden (elephant) merely wants to assert intellectual superiority to you and everyone else. MichaelDavidCrawford--who am I? Who are you? It looks like your PR center wrote your message. It looks like your elephant wanted to assert intellectual superiority to me and everyone else.