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Take a Seaweed Pill and Call the Police in the Morning

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Greenpeace Canada Seaweed PillsHat tips to Stephen Dubner's Freakonmics blog post, When Scare Tactics Backfire, and TreeHugger for pointing us to this rather bizarre story out of Ontario. Per the National Post,
Toronto police issued an alert today after residents in Rosedale and downtown received an information placard from Greenpeace Canada warning against radiation from nuclear power plants — with a little green pill attached.

The pill was said to be potassium iodine, which is meant to prevent thyroid cancer, one of the most common radiation-caused illnesses.

Officers arrived to a home in the Bloor and Sherbourne streets area Saturday evening and seized the pill.

“It’s an unknown substance in pill form being delivered… we’re kind of concerned,” Staff Sergeant Dan Sabadics said. “We treat it as unknown and hazardous until we know what it is.”

Investigators have determined that it is not hazardous but Health Canada is doing further analysis to identify it.

“Since then, Greenpeace has agreed to cease and they’ve turned over all remaining [pills]. We’re just testing them now,” he said.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time. But once it’s explained that you’re delivering pills and a child [might] get a hold of this. What effect it will have on a child? We don’t know. There are liability issues.”
Wondering if Jon Evans, brand manager [former?] for Disaronno Amaretto, had a hand in this marketing campaign gone awry.

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Comments

Anonymous said…
It is a medical fact that KI can cause allergic reactions in some people. I think the incidence rate is about 2 per million people. I always advise people not to use KI. The risks are greater taking it than not, even in a nuclear accident. It is a thyroid blocker and will only be effective if the contaminant is "fresh", i.e., effluent from an operating core, relatively fresh fuel, or a nuclear weapon recently detonated.

By taking this action, Greenpiece is poisoning the population, exposing people to risks much greater than any from nuclear accidents.
April 9, 2009 at 1:47 PM
Pedro said…
The pills would work in case of a great accident like Chernobyl where high incidence of tyroid cancer has been detected. So, their action it's not completely crazy. Of course distributing this product you may be taking some risks and that would not be acceptable.
April 9, 2009 at 5:11 PM
lad said…
And these are the people who feel qualified to advise the Ontario government on our energy supply plan? Those old unintended consequences just keep coming back to haunt them. Why the mainstream media even continues to give their opinions serious credence is beyond me.
April 9, 2009 at 7:58 PM
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