The BroBo masses were seized with nuclear fears last week, as a looming meltdown in Japan caused a run on potassium iodide tablets at food co-ops across Brooklyn, even as the CDC warned against feeding iodine to little Henry and Eleanor.
Yet the brownstone denizens are not the only ones worried about radiation poisoning, it turns out. The mania has spread to the furthest reaches of the outer-boroughs as well, where Congressman Anthony Weiner is advocating for iodine reserves. On Imus in the Morning today, between discussions of Libya and the AT&T and T-Mobile merger, Weiner stressed the need to have iodine at the ready:
Imus: To Japan now, I keep waiting for the president, because of the way rumors get started, because of this run on iodine pills in this country, because of what people on the West Coast might think, realistically or unrealistically, about these plumes radioactive clouds that are coming over first from the Aluetian Islands and then hitting Santa Barbara and then Newport Beach, that the president would sit down in the Oval Office, and as long as he’s emulating Jimmy Carter, would put on a sweater and at least tell us everything is going to be O.K. Where’s that leadership?
Weiner: Only on a Fox outlet [the WABC radio show is simulcast on Fox Business] would you get the president being blamed for a tsunami that knocked out nuclear reactors in Japan. Look. The tone of this, I think, for the most part, has been, I think most Americans understand what’s going on. There’s a horrible catastrophe, they’re trying to dig out every day that they can, and this has led us to an important conversation about the viability of nuclear power in this country, which has enormous economic problems on top of everything else. But I think, frankly, the Environmental Protection Agency and Health and Human Services has made smart decisions to give people the information they need. There’s no harm, there’s no harm right now, but I’m sure if any occurs, we’ll be told.
[…]
I: Finally, Governor Cuomo’s concerned about Indian Point, are you? The nuclear facility.
W: This is a good moment for us to take a look at the safety of all these nuclear power plants…
I: Should we close ’em?
W: I trust that this audit that Cuomo is going to do is going to give us some information. I’m concerned about closing it outright, because frankly it’s an enormous amount of energy provided to my constituents in New York City. But all of that being said, one thing that I think that we should do is take some steps to make sure that people around nuclear power plants are equipped with the things that they need, like these iodine pills, for example, in case there is an emergency.
What is close, though? Cosmically speaking, Park Slope is close to Japan, and certainly to Indian Point.
