Rippling effect of toxic water discharge felt

Many Chinese cities reportedly witnessed a rush of people buying up salt after Japan began releasing nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean on Thursday. People are concerned that the salt produced from now on will be contaminated with the radioactive water. However, salt companies and the government have been quick to reassure the public. Within hours, Yunnan Salt, a State-owned salt company of Yunnan province, clarified that its salt, sourced from deep wells in the plateau and formed in the Jurassic Period (199.6 million to 145.5 million years ago), was safe. They could supply 1.7 million tons of such salt annually. Yexian county in Henan province also said that it had 330 billion tons of rock salt mineral, enough to supply the entire nation for 33,000 years.

The swift release of the information helped quickly end the salt rush.

However, it is important to note that the situation with salt may not apply to all countries and products. In June, the Republic of Korea witnessed a rush on salt that led to a nearly 27 percent increase in local salt prices due to similar concerns. Visitors to the livestream rooms of some seafood businesses have been questioning whether their products are safe. As the nuclear-contaminated water can spread to half of the Pacific Ocean within 57 days, a rush for other products, especially seafood and aquatic products, might be on the horizon, not only in the ROK, but also in Southeast Asia, the United States, and Japan itself.

It is crucial for Japan to recognize the severe harm it is causing to the world by recklessly dumping its nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean. As the entire ocean is interconnected, no water body will be unaffected by Japan's reckless action, and the global aquatic industry will suffer from this disaster. This is only the beginning, and the consequences after 30 years are unpredictable. That is how long it is expected to take to release all the radioactive nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean.

The only way to prevent a possible nightmare from unfolding is for Japan to take immediate action and stop its irresponsible ocean discharge.