> Karleen, I agree. Guidelines are in general prepared by national regulatory
> bodies based on the recommendations of ICRP. But IAEA could develop
> guidelines that could then be shared by national regulatory bodies.
> 
> I will ask my contacts at IAEA whether such guidelines could be developed by
> them.
> 
> In the particular case of Japanese mothers, there is no need to make any
> specific recommendation because there has been no exposure among the public
> so far. I hope someone has told mothers this.
> 
> Veronica
> 

As some of you know, although maybe not a lot of you as I've been fairly quiet on Lactnet in recent years, I analyse news coverage for a living. I worked in for an emergency response team here in Canada in the wake of Chernobyl (and one of our tasks was to reassure and inform pregnant and breastfeeding mothers worried about the impact of the plume that spread out across Canada in the days following that disaster.)  I'm currently working with a issues management team on the nuclear emergency portion of the Japan disaster.

Although I have seen a number of interviews with people in evacuation centres who say they feel afraid and not well informed about the extend of radiation exposure, I think the media are looking for those people to fit their angle, and so we may be getting a skewed idea of the state of mind of local residents on this issue.

I have seen a report on English-language HKN - the public broadcaster in Japan, about a woman who felt she "lost her milk" due to stress and was relieved when a grocery store opened so she could feed formula. :(

There are credible reports that iodine tables are being distributed. If this is true, it is my understanding this would be happening because they want tablets to be available in the not-very-likely event of a containment vessel breech with radiation reaching outside the 20K evacuation zone. Not because they are asking people to take these tablets because they have already been exposed. 

There are also images of evacuees being screened for radiation - I know that at least some of that screening is being *offered* to worried evacuees - which could be an attempt to reassure or convince evacuees that they have not been exposed.

-- Jodine Chase
Edmonton, Canada

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome