MATHER, Calif., March 18 (UPI) -- People in California should not fear radiation from Japan reaching the state Friday, officials said as a U.S. agency added radiation monitors to the region.
"We do not anticipate any amounts of radiation that will cause any health effects," said California Department of Public Health interim Director Howard Backer.
A United Nations forecast of the movement of the radioactive plume coming from Japan's crippled Fukushima reactors indicated it would hit Southern California, more than 5,000 miles away, late Friday.
Health and nuclear experts said the plume's radiation would be diluted and, at worst, have extremely minor health consequences in the United States, The New York Times reported.
California's Emergency Management Agency confirmed Thursday California could detect heightened radiation as early as Friday. But it said health effects would be all but unnoticeable.
Oregon and Washington also monitored for any increase in radiation levels from the Japanese plant, crippled in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said neither the West Coast nor Hawaii was expected to experience harmful levels of radioactivity.
President Barack Obama went further, saying: "Whether it's the West Coast, Hawaii, Alaska or U.S. territories in the Pacific, we do not expect harmful levels of radiation. That's the judgment of our Nuclear Regulatory Commission and many other experts."
Some California drugstores reported running out of potassium iodide, which prevents some of radioactive iodine's harm to the thyroid, CNN reported. State health officials said they didn't know how many people were taking potassium iodide s a precaution, but they strongly discouraged anyone from doing so. They said the medicine has side-effects, especially for people allergic to iodine, shellfish or who have thyroid problems.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency added radiation monitors on the West Coast, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and on other Pacific islands. The move was precautionary, the agency said.
Anyone with radiation-exposure questions can call a California Department of Public Health hot line at (916) 341-3947.
