Some states refuse to distribute potassium iodide, leaving residents vulnerable to nuclear accidents

I've been recommending this since 1997, and finally, the feds starting promoting the idea after 9/11. But many states refuse to protect their own citizens. Their plans? "We'll evacuate everybody in time." Sure they will. And my dog can play the piano.

• Three years ago the federal government began passing out pills that may protect against some of the most dangerous effects of radiation.
• Never mind that experts say the over-the-counter potassium iodide pills are the cheapest and easiest way to prevent radiation poisoning -- especially in children -- in case of a nuke accident.
• Last year, a report commissioned by Congress recommended that everyone under 40 near a nuclear power plant should have the pills on hand.
• "You sit there scratching your head and say, 'Why aren't they giving it out?'" said Alan Morris, president of Anbex, the only potassium iodide pill manufacturer in the United States.
• Some state officials, meanwhile, continue to oppose accepting free supplies of the pills from Washington.
• "We hope, quite frankly, that our politicians see the wisdom in what we've done," said Jim Hardeman, manager of the environmental radiation program in Georgia, who successfully pushed state officials to decline the pills.
• Here's how they work: The thyroid gland, about the size of an unshelled peanut, sits at the bottom of the throat and processes iodine.
• In the event of a severe accident, iodine gas could escape containment buildings and be carried on the wind to nearby regions, said William Miller, professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Missouri at Columbia.
• Nuclear power plants are obvious risks -- by some estimates, tens of thousands of children developed thyroid cancer in the Ukraine after the 1986 Chernobyl accident.
• Radiation exposure doesn't hurt the thyroid right away, but cancer can develop years later, as former Nuclear Regulatory Commission attorney Peter Crane found.
• "It was a tenacious and disagreeable disease," said Crane, who's now in remission and leading the efforts to distribute potassium iodide pills.