# nuke pills

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuke-pills/195558>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [August 16, 2003, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuke-pills/195558 "2003-08-16T07:43:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kealolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f475e1/32.png) [@Kealolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kealolo)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuke-pills/195558/1 "2003-08-16T07:43:56Z")

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and say, how about calcium supplements as protection from strontium-90? Would certainly be a longer-term treatment, but tums are cheap.

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuke-pills/195558/2 "2003-08-16T09:34:21Z")

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Welcome to the SDMB, **Kealolo**.

Were you referring to this article?  
[Do radiation-nullifying pills actually work?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_239a.html)

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**Author:** ![Kealolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f475e1/32.png) [@Kealolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kealolo)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuke-pills/195558/3 "2003-08-17T04:45:55Z")

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Yup. Sorry if I mis-posted, I’m new here…

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuke-pills/195558/4 "2003-08-17T07:54:32Z")

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Don’t sweat it, **Kealolo**. It just helps to show which article you’re referring to, so other posters can see what it’s about.

Glad I guessed right! 🙂 Thanks.

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**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuke-pills/195558/5 "2003-08-17T12:19:17Z")

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Echoing **Ice Wolf** , and welcome to the Boards, **Kealolo.**

Yep, when starting a new thread, it’s helpful if you provide a link to the column being discussed – avoids lots of duplication of effort, keeps us all mostly on the same page, etc. But no biggie.

Glad to have you with us! …I’ll wait for someone knowledgable to comment on TUMS as anti-radiation pills.

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**Author:** ![Kealolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f475e1/32.png) [@Kealolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kealolo)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuke-pills/195558/6 "2003-08-18T07:28:14Z")

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Thanks… I like the sense of community implied by your welcoming messages, double-teeming me, as it were. I’ve enjoyed the column for years, and taking a look at the website daily has over the past year become one of the few perks in my workaholic day.

I’ll absolutely include the relevant link when posting in the future; I made the erroneous assumption that it would be obvious since the column was one of the 3 Cecil columns ‘up’ on the website that day… but of course, not everyone gets their Cecil fix that way. Thanks.

And regarding tums as a prophylaxis for Strontium 90 poisoning, I don’t know the answer, although in principle it seems similar to the reason to load your thyroid with non-radioactive iodine. Strontium bioaccumulates due to its chemical similarity to calcium. In fact, pre-apocalypse dairy calcium in the form of dried milk would be more accessible to the body, but fresh dairy would be a cow’s way of concentrating radioactive strontium. Of course, you can buy tums by the pound at costo, and that minty freshness would be mighty welcome in the End Times.

For that matter, you can buy potassium iodide by the pound on ebay to make lemonade with and save your neighbors, but I think that relatively few people in heavy-radiation situations get croaked from radioactive iodine. That’s more of a long-term problem; you see it a lot in the Marshall Islands in kids (The marshalese have the distinction of being the only population H-bombed with our tax dollars).

I think that in situations like nuclear war, thyroid cancer is probably the least of your worries. In the case of a Chernobyl-style accident, a one-way bus ticket is probably a better idea.

best