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No need for panic in Shanghai
By Staff Reporters |
March 16, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Shanghai residents have been urged not to overreact after rumors that radiation leaking from Japan's nuclear reactors was affecting the city.
A city government spokesman assured the public yesterday that there was no danger and radiation levels in the city were normal.
But the Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau said it was watching developments closely and considering whether to carry out radiation tests on people coming back from Japan.
People's concern was in evidence at local pharmacies.
Cydiodine tablets, said to be able to ease the effects of radiation, proved popular, and other related products were selling out at some stores.
"Everybody is so keen on those tablets suddenly," Chen Guiping, an assistant at a Nanjing Road pharmacy said.
The tablets, an over the counter medicine which contains iodine, are relatively cheap and usually used to treat some respiratory problems and mouth infections.
On the pharmacy's second floor customers were queuing up to buy face masks.
"I've been waiting for more than half an hour," said an insurance agent who was there on behalf of colleagues. "The pharmacy told us the masks are now out of stock."
At a pharmacy in Jing'an District, an employee was telling customers to come back after 5pm when more supplies of iodine products would be arriving.
Two girls bought bottles of iodine tincture at the Huashi Pharmacy in the Shanghai Center after they were told there were no tablets available.
"We do not know whether it works," they said. "We just bought them in case."
Online, radiation protection suits were in demand. On taobao.com, country's biggest e-commerce platform, some sellers were emphasizing the importance of taking precautions against radiation to boost sales.
Some parents were concerned about their children's safety. One teacher at a Shanghai kindergarten said she had received SMS messages from parents, asking her not to organize outdoor activities.
Some companies have also begun distributing face masks to staff.
Caroline Liu, who works in human resources at a Shanghai-based multinational electronics company, said its union had decided to give each employee three masks.
China's leading microblog, t.sina.com.cn, is sending notices to users telling them that rumors that the leaks were affecting China are false.
A city government spokesman assured the public yesterday that there was no danger and radiation levels in the city were normal.
But the Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau said it was watching developments closely and considering whether to carry out radiation tests on people coming back from Japan.
People's concern was in evidence at local pharmacies.
Cydiodine tablets, said to be able to ease the effects of radiation, proved popular, and other related products were selling out at some stores.
"Everybody is so keen on those tablets suddenly," Chen Guiping, an assistant at a Nanjing Road pharmacy said.
The tablets, an over the counter medicine which contains iodine, are relatively cheap and usually used to treat some respiratory problems and mouth infections.
On the pharmacy's second floor customers were queuing up to buy face masks.
"I've been waiting for more than half an hour," said an insurance agent who was there on behalf of colleagues. "The pharmacy told us the masks are now out of stock."
At a pharmacy in Jing'an District, an employee was telling customers to come back after 5pm when more supplies of iodine products would be arriving.
Two girls bought bottles of iodine tincture at the Huashi Pharmacy in the Shanghai Center after they were told there were no tablets available.
"We do not know whether it works," they said. "We just bought them in case."
Online, radiation protection suits were in demand. On taobao.com, country's biggest e-commerce platform, some sellers were emphasizing the importance of taking precautions against radiation to boost sales.
Some parents were concerned about their children's safety. One teacher at a Shanghai kindergarten said she had received SMS messages from parents, asking her not to organize outdoor activities.
Some companies have also begun distributing face masks to staff.
Caroline Liu, who works in human resources at a Shanghai-based multinational electronics company, said its union had decided to give each employee three masks.
China's leading microblog, t.sina.com.cn, is sending notices to users telling them that rumors that the leaks were affecting China are false.
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