WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-MA), a senior Democratic Member of both the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee, today released a letter signed by all of the Massachusetts House delegation urging Governor Romney to reverse a position taken by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency Director that the “Commonwealth strongly opposes expanding the KI (potassium iodide) distribution plan to 20 miles from a nuclear power plant.”  KI is a safe and proven method of protecting the public from the risk of radiation-induced thyroid cancers in the event of a terrorist attack or nuclear accident at a nuclear power plant. 

In response to the statement from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, Rep. Markey said, “The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency appears to have abdicated its responsibility to protect the Commonwealth’s residents from the danger that a terrorist attack on Seabrook, Pilgrim, or Vermont Yankee might pose.  Why in the world would the state not want to get free supplies of a substance that could protect the residents of Massachusetts from radioactive iodine?”

Rep. Markey was the author of the Amendment to the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 that expanded the radius of KI distribution out to 20 miles.  He has been actively working on oversight of this law, pushing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to set useful guidelines for the stockpiling and distribution of KI. 

“We all watched as hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast this year, and highways became parking lots.  Emergency evacuation takes hours.  KI would protect citizens during evacuation from radiation exposures that would result in an increased risk of thyroid cancer; KI can save lives.  I’m shocked that MEMA would block Massachusetts resident’s access to federally provided KI,” Markey concluded.

Letter to Gov. Romney, December 21, 2005