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CNN Live Saturday
Residents Near Nuclear Plant Get Emergency Pills
Aired June 08, 2002 - 18:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERNINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: In Westchester County, New York, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is issuing a free pill that they hope will protect residents in case of a radiation leak there. Here is CNN's Maria Hinojosa with more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a busy Saturday morning in Yorktown Heights, a small town an hour north of New York City. Outside the local high school, traffic is directed, but these people aren't here for the high school graduation. They're picking up their KI pills, potassium iodide.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
HINOJOSA: Just in case of a nuclear disaster. The Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant is part of this community. Anyone within ten miles of the plant was contacted by the county, and told to come and pick up their pills.
SUSAN TOLCHIN, COMMUNICATIONS DIR., WESTCHESTER COUNTY: If, in the unlikely event -- and I stress unlikely event -- an emergency -- people are told to take a pill that's only a short-term -- then they will be told either to shelter in place or to evacuate. But, I stress again, in the unlikely event of an emergency, they're prepared.
HINOJOSA: Unlikely or not, Joseph Refino (ph) brings little Michelle (ph) and Nicole (ph), standing in line...
JOSEPH REFINO: Michelle, honey, come on.
HINOJOSA: ...to pick up four little pills he's been told might help save his family if the nuclear plant is attacked.
Is there a part of you that just feels like this whole thing is really surreal?
REFINO: Absolutely. Yeah, I mean -- I think, just like -- everybody felt back in September. It's hard to believe that this is your daily reality these days, but it is.
HINOJOSA: Doctor's say the low dosage potassium iodide pills must be taken within the first 24 hours of nuclear exposure to help prevent thyroid cancer, one of the first forms of cancer to develop. But it's not a panacea.
DR. LOREN WISSNER GREENE, THYROID SPECIALIST, NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: These are not protecting us against everything in a nuclear accident, and I think that's really important to emphasize. What it does do, is decrease the ability of the thyroid gland to pick up this radioactive iodide, which can cause a high incidence of thyroid cancer, especially in young children.
HINOJOSA: Thirteen states that have nuclear reactors have requested the pills from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Eleven have received them, including New York.
At the pill distribution site, anti-nuclear activist's say the only way to help this community is to close down the plant, and now, Joseph Refino says he's listening.
HINOJOSA: Before, you might have seen these activists and you might have thought...
REFINO: I looked at them very differently. No doubt about it.
HINOJOSA: And now?
REFINO: And now, there's a new reality. So...
HINOJOSA: You respect them?
REFINO: Much more so, yeah.
HINOJOSA: After getting his pills, he went to a safety fair at a local gym.
REFINO: The child identification stuff -- what part is that?
HINOJOSA: To get video imaging of his daughters, in case they're ever kidnapped.
Maria Hinojosa, CNN, Yorktown Heights, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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