Carol Vack, a local health liaison for the Arizona Department of Health Services, sat down with the Daily Wildcat and answered common questions regarding the radiation contamination concerns in Japan and how Arizona will be affected.

Why do people in Arizona fear radiation contamination coming from Japan?

The unknown is always what people fear. The official word that all the agencies have said is that this is not a public health threat in Arizona. They simply have a fear of radiation.

Why is it unlikely that Arizona will be affected by radiation poisoning?

We are way too far away from Japan to get any significant levels of radiation traveling here. The levels will be so minute, the amount of radiation that you have here is the same amount of radiation that you would get on a cross-country airplane flight.

What is the current radioactivity situation here in Arizona and how is it being monitored?

There are sites where it is monitored all the time, not just for this incident. Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station is one of those sites.

Though potassium iodide is being sold more frequently, why shouldn’t Arizona residents be consuming it?

There’s no need to. Potassium iodide is only for people that are directly very close to the radiation source. There can be some adverse effects from taking the pill, and it’s totally unnecessary in Arizona to be doing that.

If Arizona is affected by radiation in the future, what precautions would residents, as well as the Arizona Department of Health Services, need to take?

Everybody needs to be prepared for disasters no matter what the disaster is. There could be many different kinds of disasters and the same kind of preparedness, preparing your family. You can find on our website how to do a family plan for your personal family preparedness plan, which would apply to any emergency. You may be told to shelter inside your home, you may be told to leave and to evacuate or you may be told that there is not a potential hazard at this time but to continue … to monitor media so that you can take the action … at the appropriate time, should you be asked.