Newtype classmates｜In the past, people hoarded salt due to nuclear radiation, and 12 years later, they are hoarding salt because of nuclear-contaminated water.

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It is said that when the issue of Japan’s nuclear wastewater came out, some community owners’ groups started hoarding salt again. This is really quite funny…

The last time salt was hoarded was during the 311 earthquake in Japan (which also led to the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster), but it has been 12 years since then, and many young people may not know why they had to hoard salt back then.

Here’s what happened. After the earthquake, the nuclear power plant leaked, and everyone was in a panic. At this time, the media interviewed experts about “what to do if you encounter a nuclear leak”, and the experts mentioned “taking iodine tablets”.

The reason for taking iodine tablets after a nuclear disaster is that the human body absorbs iodine and then accumulates it in the thyroid gland, and the accumulated iodine is difficult to metabolize. Once the radioactive isotope iodine-131 enters the thyroid gland, it is difficult to excrete and will cause long-term harm to the human body. The way to deal with it is to take iodine tablets before the radioactive iodine arrives, so that the iodine in the body reaches its upper limit, and the radioactive iodine cannot enter.

Therefore, taking iodine tablets to prevent radiation must follow the notice and medical advice, because it is useless to take them too early. If you take them too early and they are metabolized, you leave a spot for radioactive iodine; it is also useless to take them too late, as the radioactive iodine has already entered; taking too much is also bad for your health. The best situation is that the government, based on the location and spread rate of the radioactive disaster, notifies everyone to take iodine tablets in batches.

But look, I spent so much space explaining this, but people didn’t care about these details in their panic, they just remembered “iodine can prevent radiation”. So iodine tablets were the first to be snatched up, followed by kelp, and even iodine tincture was gone. Then everyone found out: the iodine salt in the grocery store also contains iodine.

Compared to these other things, iodine salt is cheap and doesn’t spoil, so everyone rushed to buy it. Even those who didn’t want to buy it, hurried to buy a couple of bags – regardless of whether they hoarded or not, the salt was all gone, and they still had to cook at home.

In fact, iodine salt can indeed play the role of iodine tablets – if you eat 3 kilograms of iodine salt at once, it is equivalent to taking an iodine tablet. But generally speaking, for people who can survive eating 3 kilograms of salt, I think the mere nuclear radiation is not their opponent.

So the story above is the source of “nuclear radiation requires hoarding salt”. And today, exactly 12 years later, we are hoarding salt again, which is really making people laugh and cry.

Update:

I’m really dizzy, and some people are saying that I’m whitewashing, that my stance is biased, and that everyone is hoarding salt because they are afraid that sea salt will be radioactive in the future.

You can check it yourself, most of the edible salt in China is well salt. As early as the salt rush in 2011, the media had already reported that 80% of China’s edible salt is well salt, what does it have to do with sea salt?

Now everyone is calling on people not to hoard salt, and I’m just reviewing the salt rush a decade ago, and I’m being accused of whitewashing for Japan?