Salt and paranoia

This is my bag of "iodiled" salt in my kitchen.

I have been glued to the news lately, feeling sorrow for the complicated tragedy in Japan. While I have had moments even of uncertainty myself- could this nuclear tragedy affect us- I am pretty reassured by news and WHO reports that at this point I have absolutely nothing to worry about. We are far, the wind is blowing out to sea and it certainly has not escalated to a major meltdown yet (and even if it does, still very unlikely it would affect us). However, try telling that to the other billion people in this country.

I discovered yesterday while talking to Xiao Chen that there has been a MAJOR run on salt- all over the country. Apparently, rumors have been flying over text messages, QQ (a major online chat forum) and who knows where else that everyone needs salt. There are two reasons given (though maybe not everyone knows both of them)- one is people believe that since salt has iodine, it can help prevent radiation sickness ( though you would need to ingest 250 teaspoons of salt to get enough iodine in one tablet, a possibly lethal does of salt). Also, people seem to think that most salt here comes from the sea (which is not true, most of it is mined) and that even the sea on the coast in China might be contaminated so they need to stock up (it is not).

Xiao Chen herself was not very clear on why people needed salt (she thought it came from the sea) or whether this was a rumor or had any truth to it. Since then I went online and read some about it and have compared notes with friends across the country. There is no salt to be found in stores. People have been a bit crazy to find salt and many grocery stores have stepped up security to prevent chaos. Wow. I am sure America might be crazy too about something like this if it actually showed up on its doorstep. However, I am glad for access to correct information. It is just an interesting study in how people respond to tragedy and fear. I am glad too that I know the One who holds it all in His Hands.

And I am also glad I still have about 3/4 of a bag of salt in my cabinet. For cooking purposes. Who knows when there will be any to be found.