Stop hoarding salt, China tells radiation-scared shoppers

Reuters ^ | 03/17/11

[TigerLikesRooster]

Stop hoarding salt, China tells radiation-scared shoppers

China's economic agency told shoppers on Thursday to stop panic buying salt, blaming baseless rumours that the iodine in it can stop radiation sickness. Skip related content

The Chinese government has repeatedly said the country's residents will not be exposed to radiation from a nuclear plant in northeastern Japan which engineers are frantically trying to bring under control after it was damaged by last Friday's earthquake and tsunami.

But in a sign of increasing public worries about the risks, people across much of China have been buying large amounts of iodised salt, emptying markets of the usually cheap and plentiful product

[TigerLikesRooster]

LOL. Germans snapping up Geiger counters and iodine pills, and Chinese hoarding salt, and even Japanese milk powder(they figure future stock of the milk powder would be radioactive and health hazard, even though it has been their most popular choice until now.)

[DoughtyOne]

Or what China. You gonna run down more people with tanks, and gun down the rest?

Inquiring minds would like to know.

[SgtHooper]

Chinese...surprised there isn’t a run on fish feet, millipede eyes, or bear spleens.

[TigerLikesRooster]

They are not radioactive yet.

[darkside321]

LOL. Germans snapping up Geiger counters and iodine pills

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Lol No more geiger counters for the germans...
They are allready sold out since tuesday in germany and Austria (my country).
This clearly shows how stupid people can be.

[Jeff Chandler]

I didn’t know we had so many Freepers in China.

[Cicero]

Well, they’re not entirely dumb. So far the radiation is minimal, and as usual is blowing eastward across the Pacific, not toward China.

But the recommendation IF you are exposed to high radiation levels is to take potassium iodide pills.

And table salt contains—potassium iodide.

Probably not enough for full protection, I would guess. But better than nothing. My salt container says that it provides 45% of the daily dose of iodide, which I suppose means that if you consume an average daily amount of salt it would cut absorption of radioactive iodide roughly in half.

Better than nothing.

[goseminoles]

Salt would do zilch, nada, nair, nothing. The amount of salt you would have to eat would kill a guy.

[Koracan]

The FDA has approved forms of KI—tablets and liquid—that people can take by mouth after a nuclear radiation emergency......
..Adults should take 130 mg

single dose of KI protects the thyroid gland for 24 hours. A one-time dose is usually all that is needed to protect the thyroid gland.

Table Salt: Iodine = .4 mg per tsp

Good luck eating 325 teaspoons salt in one shot