Japan's nuclear crisis is spiking demand in the U.S. and a few other places for a cheap drug that can protect against one type of radiation damage — even though the risk is only in Japan.
     Japan's nuclear crisis is spiking demand in the U.S. and a few other places for a cheap drug that can protect against one type of radiation damage — even though the risk is only in Japan.
     Health agencies in California and western Canada warned Tuesday that there's no reason for people an ocean away to suddenly stock up on potassium iodide. Some key suppliers say they're back-ordered and are getting panicked calls from potential customers.
     "Tell them, `Stop, don't do it,'" said Kathryn Higley, director of radiation health physics at Oregon State University.
     "There's a lot of mythology about the use of potassium iodide," added Dr. Irwin Redlener, a pediatrician and disaster preparedness specialist at Columbia University. "It's not a radiation antidote in general."
     The pill can help prevent radioactive iodine from causing thyroid cancer, for which children are most at risk in a nuclear disaster.
     Japan's Nuclear Safety Agency has stored potassium iodide to distribute in case of high radiation exposure, and the U.S. Navy is giving it to military crews exposed to radiation as they help with relief efforts in Japan. But government and independent experts say that Americans have little to fear from any radiation released by the damaged Japanese nuclear plant.
     "You just aren't going to have any radiological material that, by the time it traveled those large distances, could present any risk to the American public," said Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Greg Jazcko.
     Other governments echoed that warning.
     "We do not expect any health risk following the nuclear reactor releases in Japan, nor is the consumption of potassium iodide tablets a necessary precaution," British Columbia's health ministry told the public Tuesday.
     In Russia, where memory of the very different Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago is strong, media reports said pharmacies in Vladivostok, a major port just west of Japan, had run out of the pills.
     What does this drug do?
     Potassium iodide, a salt also known as KI, has just one use: It shields the thyroid from radioactive iodine. It blocks no other type of radiation, and protects no other body part.
     The drug, either pill or liquid form, is sold over-the-counter and is considered safe, although some people may experience allergic reactions.
     Potassium iodide is most important for children and pregnant women, because a growing thyroid is much more active and more likely to absorb radioactive iodine, said Columbia's Redlener. It should be given within a few hours of radiation exposure — but isn't considered that useful for people over age 40.


A frantic buying of iodized salt has swept across China as rumors of radiation sickness and contamination diffusing.
受到日本大地震以及核危机影响，3月16日开始中国大部地区发生食盐抢购现象。

Chinese authorities are stepping up monitoring for radiation. 41 cities across country have been scanned and so far the government says that all of them fall within a normal range. Even so, people here are panic about the potential contamination of radiation from Japan. Some people have started to hoarding salt. There’s been a lot of discussion recently about the potassium iodide, and how it protects the thyroid and people from radiation sickness.
We’re here, somewhere along the lineup, iodide has been linked to iodized salt, so because of that and concerns that Chinese own supply of salt could be contaminated by radiation. People here have seen a riot on salt. We've called several different stores around Shanghai and Guangzhou, and visited several more here in Beijing and all of them say that salt is sold out. There is one interesting case where a woman told CCTV that she's stored up on five years supply of salt in order to allay the fears of her family.
Now the government's come out and said that they have plenty of salt in reserve. They also said that salt is not an antidote for radiation sickness ,so in fact WHO has said that you have to eat 80 table spoons of salt in order to get the equivalent effect of one iodide tablet.
Still, the fears here are very very real; in fact, it posed a rethink of China's own nuclear power program. China has a very ambitious nuclear power program, planning to roll out over 100 nuclear power plants over the next several years in order to meet that energy needs as well as their environmental goals.
The government said this week that it’s suspended approvals for new nuclear power facilities. However, it is going to allow the construction of some of the facilities. The construction that is currently underway. It is going to be making more safety tracks and also reviewing safety standards
Eunice Yoon, CNN, Beijing.


Fearing Radiation, Chinese Rush to Buy...Table Salt?
Japan's nuclear crisis is fueling panic in China, where shoppers have spurred a run on salt in attempt to prevent radiation-related illnesses and to secure uncontaminated salt sources.
China's top economic agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, warned consumers Thursday against hoarding salt, and said it would work with local authorities to maintain price stability and market supply. Grocery store shelves have been ransacked over the past several days.
Consumers in cities along the China's coastline, such as Shanghai and Guangzhou, and even in inland capital Beijing, began stockpiling table salt after problems at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power complex sparked concerns that radiation would spread to China by air and sea, possibly contaminating the land and future food sources. While iodized table salt does contain healthy, nonradioactive iodine, health authorities say it doesn't contain enough to protect the body against damage from radioactive iodine that may be released during a nuclear event.
Further, only a fraction of China's salt for consumption comes from the sea, said Song Zhangjing, a spokesman for industry organization the China Salt  Association. 'In China, most salt are from salt mines.'


China's salt-buying rush is a sign of widespread fear that Japan's nuclear woes will have far-reaching implications beyond the island. News of Fukushima's nuclear leaks have stirred up memories of Ukraine's nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986 and fears that nuclear disaster will not be contained.
Experts and Japanese officials have said it is highly unlikely Fukushima's problems will be as bad as Chernobyl's, and Chinese officials have said they don't expect the radiation in Japan to cause harm in China. On Thursday, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing distributed a message to American citizens saying: 'Based on information from authoritative sources in the U.S. and throughout the region, there is currently no evidence to suggest that nuclear events in Fukushima, Japan will have any health impact on individuals residing in China.'
Fears of a salt shortage also spread to Hong Kong, where many supermarkets ran out of salt early Thursday as nervous shoppers stocked up on supplies. In several supermarkets in some of Hong Kong's busiest shopping districts, supermarket staffers said they didn't know when new shipments would arrive.
The government's top food safety official called the salt run 'totally unfounded.' York Chow, Secretary for Food and Health, said in a statement that salt supplies won't be affected by contamination around Japan's waters because 'the sea water around Japan will be much diluted or washed off after some time, and he said there's no reason to take iodine tablets because they're only used for people are in close contact with high levels of radiation. Buying salt for its iodine content is 'totally totally unfounded, both scientifically and medically,' he said.


Chinese parents have also begun to stock up on Japanese-produced infant formula, assuming that future supply will be limited or contaminated. Citizens in Shanghai, about 1,800 kilometers west of Fukushima, have filled their medicine cabinets with iodine pills. People are also circulating over email a doctored map that shows Northeast Asia under a pink cloud of radiation seeping from Japan.
Concerns about transborder radiation are reaching far beyond China, as people in countries as distant as Singapore and the Philippines struggle to understand the effects of nuclear disasters.
Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea have announced plans to monitor fresh produce for signs of contagion. Thailand authorities said they are prepared to test all Japanese goods.


Chinese authorities have been intensifying efforts to reassure citizens that radiation leaks in Japan pose no imminent threats. The Ministry of Environmental Protection published on its website Wednesday a chart of radiation in 41 cities across China, declaring that 'radiation levels have not been affected by the Japanese nuclear power accident.'
Still, many consumers here are in panic mode. Liu Jia, a 36-year-old office worker at Citic Securities Co., was afraid after trying unsuccessfully to buy salt at a Beijing grocery store, where signs that said, 'No More Salt,' hovered above the salt section of the store.
'If you don't move quickly, you won't be able to buy any clean salt without radiation,' ***iu said.


Many shoppers in China are also buying up sea salt instead of typical table salt fear future sources will be depleted and unsafe, according to China's state-owned media company Xinhua.
Standing next to ***iu was a crowd of others who were also looking to buy salt. 'It's always safe to do what the majority are doing,' said Michael Zeng, a 21-year-old college student in Beijing.
A Wal-Mart store in the Yangpu district of Shanghai is considering limits on salt buys.


日本核危机开始引发中国公众的恐慌情绪。在中国，消费者抢购食盐，以便预防核辐射相关疾病，并保证未受核辐射的食盐来源。
中国国家发展和改革委员会周四提醒消费者不要哄抢食盐，并说将与地方有关部门联手维护食盐价格稳定和市场供应。过去几天来，食品店的货架被消费者一扫而空。


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晚上见啊~！！！！！预祝 演讲成功。。。