VIENNA, March 19 (Reuters) - Japanese authorities have recommended that people leaving the area near a crippled nuclear power plant should ingest iodine, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Saturday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) cited a March 16 recommendation from Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission to local authorities.
Iodine can be used as a precautionary measure to help protect against thyroid cancer in the case of radioactive exposure in a nuclear accident.
(Reporting by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Michael Roddy)
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