In advance of the first of a series of tests of the national emergency plan, the Department of Health yesterday placed advertisements in newspapers advising the public that iodine tablets sent to all households three years ago should not be thrown out even though the expiry date on them is March 2005.
Testing of the tablets showed they could be effective for several months yet, even though their manufacturers placed a March 2005 expiry date on them. "The results indicate that, while the tablets show some deterioration, they would continue to be effective for a further period of nine months in the event of a major nuclear accident," a spokesman said.
The department is setting up a group to review the continued use of iodine tablets as it has been discovered they would be useless in the event of an incident at the Sellafield nuclear plant.
They are only effective in the event of a leak of radioactive isotope iodine 131, which Sellafield stopped handling some time ago.