China asks Japan for timely, precise nuclear info

[jpak]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/7476175.html

China on Thursday urged Japan to provide prompt, precise information about its nuclear crisis in a bid to control a flurry of rumors sweeping the region about possible dangers.

Worried shoppers stripped stores of iodized salt in Beijing, Shanghai and other parts of China on Thursday in the false belief that it either wards off radiation injuries or that the nation's supply would be contaminated by fallout from a crippled Japanese nuclear power plant.

Experts have said the first rumor is not true and the second is unlikely: any catastrophe at the Japanese nuclear plant would most likely affect the immediate area, and wind patterns usually blow away from China at this time of the year. The rumors are part of a swirl of misinformation crisscrossing the region in the wake of Japan's nuclear emergency.

In China, text messages on mobile phones circulated about nuclear plumes spreading from Japan throughout Asia. Rumors also spread that iodized salt was adequate protection against radiation sickness.

<more>

note - iodized salt will not protected you from radio-Iodine - the amount of salt you would have to ingest for a prophylactic dose (~1 kg or more) would kill you

[AtheistCrusader]

1. Japan owes the world at least that much.