WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Malden), Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee and a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released the following statement today upon announcement from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health that very low concentrations of radioactive iodine-131 (I-131) have been detected in a rainwater sample, likely a result of the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan.
“The nuclear meltdown in Japan should serve as a wake-up call to us all. I do not believe the levels of radioactive fallout found in Massachusetts rainwater are currently any cause for alarm. However, I am alarmed that my 2002 law to distribute potassium iodide, which protects against high levels of just this sort of fallout, to people living within 20 miles of nuclear power plants has not yet been implemented. As a result, in Massachusetts potassium iodide is only being made available to those living within a 10-mile radius of a nuclear power plant. What is happening in Japan right now is a clear warning to us that accidents can and do happen at nuclear plants, and our government needs to do more to protect the public from the risks." Markey-authored Section 127 of the 2002 Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act directed the President to establish a program to make potassium iodide available free to state and local governments for distribution to residents living within 20 miles of a nuclear power plant. The Bush administration improperly waived the law requiring distribution of the pharmaceutical safeguard to occur within 20 miles, and the Obama Administration has not yet reversed that action. Since the Japanese earthquake, tsunami and power outage that caused the nuclear meltdown in Japan, Rep. Markey has
written to Presidential Science Advisor John Holdren asking him to fully implement his 2002 law. Additionally, Rep. Markey
wrote to the Department of Health and Human Services urging them to call on the Obama administration to reverse the Bush Administration’s decision to remove HHS’s authority to implement it.
