{"id":856359,"date":"2026-08-15T16:52:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T16:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/856359\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T16:52:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T16:52:32","slug":"medical-startup-selling-prescription-kit-for-nuclear-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/856359\/","title":{"rendered":"Medical Startup Selling Prescription Kit for Nuclear Disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"

A telehealth startup is selling $345 emergency kits packed with medicine that it claims could help people survive nuclear disasters.<\/p>\n

Amble Health\u2019s \u201cOh Sh*T Kit\u201d comes with iodine tablets, Prussian blue pills for removing radioactive cesium and thallium, and anti-nausea medication ondansetron, or Zofran. \u201cIf the unthinkable happens, whether from an accident, disaster, or other radiological event, having the right medications on hand can make a critical difference in the earliest hours. Because when radiation is involved panic is optional, but preparation isn\u2019t,\u201d the company\u2019s website says<\/a>. You\u2019ll need a prescription to order it; Amble also does telehealth appointments with licensed healthcare providers who can issue prescriptions.<\/p>\n

The fear of a radiological disaster isn\u2019t unfounded. After decades of declining nuclear weapons stockpiles, America is building more and new kinds of nuclear weapons<\/a>. The Trump administration\u2019s nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia includes a provision to allow it to enrich its own uranium and, possibly, a path towards a nuclear bomb for the Middle Eastern Kingdom. Russia is modernizing its nuclear arsenal and field testing<\/a> new types of nuclear-capable missiles in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

If nuclear war doesn\u2019t get you then a power plant meltdown might. The Trump administration has rewritten and outright cut safety regulations around the construction of nuclear power plants<\/a>. Tech companies are investing billions in new and untested forms of nuclear power generation. Microsoft and others are using AI systems to speed through the lengthy safety processes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to Amble, the \u201cOh Sh*T Kit\u201d is \u201cprimarily focused\u201d on people exposed to radiation as part of their jobs, not the next nuclear war. \u201cMillions of workers across medicine, construction, mining, shipping, agriculture, and power generation are routinely exposed to these hazards,\u201d an Amble spokesperson told 404 Media.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe created this kit to give people an actionable, reliable solution so they have peace of mind and know exactly what to do when the unexpected happens,\u201d the spokesperson added. \u201cOur clinicians (especially in a post pandemic world) identified a growing request-need-concern from their patients having medication available in a situation of emergency when a pharmacy would otherwise be unavailable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018If you have been exposed to enough radiation that you are vomiting […] you\u2019re already in a lot of trouble.\u2019<\/p>\n

Should the worst happen, Amble\u2019s \u201cOh Shi*t Kit\u201d has promised to help for just $345. But experts told 404 Media that the kits might not actually be all that useful if you\u2019re buying it for prepper reasons.<\/p>\n

Amble is an online platform that \u201cconnects patients to licensed healthcare professionals in all 50 states, 100% online,\u201d according to a description on its website<\/a>. The site\u2019s frontage advertises it as a place where people can get prescriptions for weight-loss drugs like GLP-1s and \u201canti-aging\u201d drugs like NAD+ and Sermorelin.<\/p>\n

It was founded by Joey Stiver, an entrepreneur with a felony conviction and a desire to \u201cdemocratize healthcare,\u201d according to his personal website<\/a>. According to Stiver, he got a double-tear in his shoulder when he was 18 and didn\u2019t want to have invasive surgery so he bought \u201chealing peptides\u201d online. He liked the product so much he began to sell medical items himself in an \u201cillicit industry\u201d which landed him a federal indictment and felony conviction. Now he\u2019s a telehealth mogul.\u00a0<\/p>\n

GLP-1s are Amble\u2019s big draw, but it also offers a number of \u201ckits\u201d for basic medical emergencies like a \u201cCold & Immunity Kit\u201d<\/a> that comes with a run of prescription antibiotics like Amoxicillin and Azithromycin. The \u201cOh Sh*T Kit\u201d is part of this line of products. Alex Wellerstein, a nuclear war historian and professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology, told 404 Media that the \u201cOh Sh*T Kit\u201d is \u201ca ripoff at $345. Doomsday grifting at its best.\u201d Iodine tablets, potentially the most useful part of the package, are available cheaply without a prescription. A bottle of 60 pills will run you around $13 at a GNC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIodine tablets can be of some benefit if taken directly after some kind of release of fresh fission products (whether a nuclear power plant accident or a nuclear detonation),\u201d Wellerstein said. \u201cThey max out the thyroid\u2019s iodine levels and prevent it from greedily up-taking environmental iodine, which means [the thyroid] won\u2019t grab any I-131 that has been produced by nuclear fission.\u201d<\/p>\n

I-131 is one of the principal radioactive substances present in the fallout that follows a nuclear disaster. It has a short half life and can wreak havoc on the body<\/a>. \u201cIt is not the only fission product of worry, of course, it is just one that is particularly easy to avoid by taking potassium iodide […] and a pernicious one as it is so quickly taken up by the body (and also, in turn, excreted relatively quickly, so you have the extra bonus of having radioactive sweat and excrement),\u201d Wellerstein said. Potassium iodide is a medical compound made from iodine.<\/p>\n

Medical-grade Prussian blue is a prescription substance that binds to heavy metals like cesium and thallium. According to the CDC<\/a>, the medicine traps the heavy metals in the intestine and keeps them from being absorbed in the body until the afflicted can shit them out. \u201c[Cesium] has a much longer half-life than I-131 (30 years), and is in the \u2018worrisome chronic carcinogen\u2019 category rather than the \u2018will give you radiation poisoning\u2019 that I-131 is in,\u201d Wellerstein said. \u201cI suspect it is the sort of thing that would be administered by a doctor, not taken by an individual, assuming there are doctors around after said \u2018radiological event.\u2019 It is not something that one should take without knowing exactly what dosages are required, I gather.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zofran will keep you from throwing up, but that will be cold comfort. It\u2019s possible that in the aftermath of a nuclear disaster, there are things in your stomach that your body does not want to absorb. \u201cIf you have been exposed to enough radiation that you are vomiting (e.g., suffering from some form of acute radiation syndrome), you\u2019re already in a lot of trouble,\u201d Wellerestein said. \u201cAnyway, that would be symptom management, a different category. It has its own possible adverse health effects.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re worried about nuclear disasters, you can do worse than buying some iodine tablets online. \u201cI think the risk\/reward tradeoff for potassium iodide is not terrible for people who worry about being exposed to radiological hazards,\u201d Wellerstein said. \u201cWhich is to say, the risk of it happening is pretty low, and it is very cheap when bought on its own and not from grifters, and so if it brings you peace of mind to keep some around, I see no harm in that.\u201d The rest, however, is probably not worth the money.<\/p>\n

About the author<\/p>\n

Matthew Gault is a writer covering weird tech, nuclear war, and video games. He\u2019s worked for Reuters, Motherboard, and the New York Times.<\/p>\n

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