抢购碘化钾的背后

Japan's nuclear crisis is spiking demand in the U.S. and a few other places for a cheap drug that can protect against one type of radiation damage — even though the risk is only in Japan.
    尽管核辐射危机目前仅限日本本国，却引发了美国等其它一些地方疯抢碘化钾—— 一种便宜却可以防止一种放射性危害的药物。
    Health agencies in California and western Canada warned Tuesday that there's no reason for people an ocean away to suddenly stock up on potassium iodide.
     周二，加利福尼亚及加拿大西部卫生部发出警告：民众无需储备大量碘化钾。
     "There's a lot of mythology about the use of potassium iodide," added Dr. Irwin Redlener, a pediatrician and disaster preparedness specialist at Columbia University. "It's not a radiation antidote in general."
      服用碘化钾需要注意很多事项，而且碘化钾也并非防辐万能药。
      The pill can help prevent radioactive iodine from causing thyroid cancer, for which children are most at risk in a nuclear disaster.
      碘化钾确实能有效防止放射性碘进入身体，预防甲状腺癌，因此儿童在核泄漏中患病风险最高。
      Japan's Nuclear Safety Agency has stored potassium iodide to distribute in case of high radiation exposure, and the U.S. Navy is giving it to military crews exposed to radiation as they help with relief efforts in Japan. But government and independent experts say that Americans have little to fear from any radiation released by the damaged Japanese nuclear plant.
      日本核安全机构已经储备了大量碘化钾，核辐射量大时派发给民众。美国海军部队在日本帮助救援的军人因为暴露于辐射中，已经派发了碘化钾。
 

"You just aren't going to have any radiological material that, by the time it traveled those large distances, could present any risk to the American public," said Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Greg Jazcko.
    核管理委员会主席声明，因为放射性物质漂洋过海到达美国时威力已大减，民众不用担心被辐射。
    Other governments echoed that warning.
    多国政府也重申无需抢购碘化钾。
     "We do not expect any health risk following the nuclear reactor releases in Japan, nor is the consumption of potassium iodide tablets a necessary precaution," British Columbia's health ministry told the public Tuesday.
     周二，英国哥伦比亚卫生部部长对外表示，不希望日本核泄漏引发任何健康隐患，更不希望发生抢购碘化钾必备药的现象。
     In Russia, where memory of the very different Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago is strong, media reports said pharmacies in Vladivostok, a major port just west of Japan, had run out of the pills.
     而在俄罗斯，25前的契尔诺贝利灾难的阴霾还挥之不去，媒体报道海参崴（日本西部的一个大港口）药房的碘化钾已经脱销。

碘片小知识
碘化钾，俗称碘片，其唯一用途就是防止放射性碘进入甲状腺。碘片不能防止其它类型的辐射，也无法保护身体其它部位免受辐射。
碘化钾有药片和液体两种形态，均为非处方药，部分人服用后会有过敏症状。
碘化钾对儿童和怀孕女性尤其重要，因为发育中的甲状腺更活跃也更容易吸收辐射性碘，应在被辐射后几小时内服用，不过对40岁以上的人药效并不明显。