Posted on 08/14/2002 3:44:53 AM PDT by Bad~Rodeo
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's Health Ministry recommends inoculating up to 150,000 emergency and health workers against smallpox, a spokesman said Wednesday, amid concerns Israel could be drawn into a possible U.S.-Iraq war.
In another protective step, pills offering a limited shield against radiation fallout will be issued to all Israelis. That move is being taken because of the possibility of a nuclear accident, not a threat from Iraq, said Amos Yaron, director general of the Defense Ministry.
Yaron told Israel Radio that though Israel had no concrete information Iraq would attack with smallpox or another biological weapon, "we need to have the immunizations ready and those who first have to treat the population have to be immunized."
The Health Ministry is recommending between 50,000 and 150,000 rescue and health workers be inoculated, said spokesman Iddo Hadari. The Cabinet will discuss the recommendation next week, Hadari said.
Arieh Eldad, the head of a team advising the Health Ministry on epidemiological control, told Israel Army Radio on Wednesday that he resigned after the ministry rejected his team's recommendation that the entire population by inoculated against smallpox.
Health Ministry officials were quoted as telling the daily Haaretz that Eldad's opinion was a minority one.
Yaron said the radiation pills would "in the near future" be included in the protection kits issued to Israelis since the 1991 Gulf War. But Yaron said the threat was a nuclear accident, not Iraq.
Potassium iodide pills, the only medication for internal radiation exposure, can prevent thyroid cancer by shielding the thyroid from radioactive iodine. It blocks no other type of radiation, and protects no other body part.
In the United States since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been offering states enough potassium iodide to treat every resident within 10 miles (16 kilometers) of a reactor, because radioactive iodine is likely to be released during an attack on a reactor or a serious reactor accident.
Terrorists could build a "dirty bomb" out of radioactive iodine, but they also could use other radioactive substances against which potassium iodide would be no help.
The United States has said it wants to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but has not confirmed it will go to war to do so. In the event of a U.S. attack on Iraq, it is widely believed Iraq would attack Israel.
During the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles - all armed with conventional warheads - at Israel in an attempt to rally Arab support. Most of the missiles struck the area around Tel Aviv.
Last week, the Israeli military confirmed it was deploying a second battery of Arrow anti-missile missiles in the center of the country. The military made no reference to Iraq, saying only the Arrow battery is being deployed as part of a multiyear test program.
I hope Israel responds with a massive retaliation this time around. The United States should encourage it instead of demanding Israelis take it on the chin for the team. To hell with what the 'Arabs' think.
They almost did last time around but you wont hear about it in the news.
Good for them. The first cheap measure is to have plenty of potassium iodide pills stockpiled and ready to distribute.
Sorry, I won't sell you ammo for any amount of gold.
It has no value except as an excellent conductor in electronics.
Don't want take any chances in case the radioactive cloud from the retaliatory strike on Baghdad accidently drifts back into Israeli territory, after all...
Do not forget to stock plenty of Calcium Supplements. They block stronium uptake like Iodide blocks Radioactive Iodine. You should take both.
BWAHAHAHAHA. Don't bureaucrats just say the darnedest things?
This is a strange-situation reminder of why we don't want socialism: Bureaucrats think everyone else was born yesterday (when, in fact, it is they who act and speak like it).
Actually, If Iraq sends a Scud with bio to Israel, then I hope Israel responds by nuking a couple of major cities.
It would serve as a very pronounced reminder to the world that Nuke = Chemical = Bio. "sow to the wind, reap the whirlwind" applys to this type of warfare.
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