The Salt Craze

Hey people. Firstly, I want to give my condolences to Japan who are dealing with a disaster of mind-boggling proportions. Not only were they devastated by one of the strongest earthquakes ever measured in history followed by a huge tsunami, but now they have to deal with a possible nuclear meltdown. What I find great is that despite being hit by an earthquake, a tsunami and then finding out that a nuclear facility might explode, there have been very little reports of looting and crazy, psycho panic occurring in Japan. 

However, the same cannot be said about its neighbor to the West. So what are the Chinese so afraid of? Nuclear Radiation. Its funny that despite being 750 miles away and having zero reasons to fear (the wind from Japan blows to the East), the Chinese people are actually more scared than the Japanese are. They are absolutely terrified that the Japanese nuclear facility will explode and cause them to be infected with radiation poisoning. So, the Chinese decided to take preemptive measures, namely by stocking up on SALT. Apparently, the Chinese heard that iodine was useful in protecting against radiation poisoning and the only thing they could think of that had iodine in it was salt. And thus begins the salt craze. See the pictures and understand how crazy it actually got.

                                 

                           

                                

                                

Even in Chengdu which is over 2000 miles away, people were climbing over each other to buy cartons of salt. Salt got SUPER expensive, growing to a price over 1000 times the normal. With everyone getting enough salt to last around, say 100 years (see above picture), the supermarkets understandably ran out of salt pretty quickly. So, with salt sold out, desperate people started turning to stuff that are salty, like soy sauce...

                                                              

Soy sauce definitely has iodine in it...

I know that one of you is bound to say, "Oh, but salt does have iodine in it, so it is helpful." Yeah, if you eat 7 pounds of it. Good luck not dying in 1 week. With that said, how do you feel about this issue? Of course its funny but its also terrifying at the same time. The Chinese people didn't actually think as to why they are getting salt, its just everyone else was doing it so people followed in suit. Remember that this craze is over NOTHING. Radiation is very unlikely to affect or even reach China at all. Can anyone help explain this situation? 

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