I still have some liquid soap left from last year's flu hysteria. And some air masks too. Who wants some? There was also a hysteria for the mad cow disease, but my wife did not buy anything, we merely rode the car through pools of soapy water back then (near farms) The problem when the media says apocalypse is coming once a year, and we're still there the next year is that we pay less attention the next time.
Not every disaster that didn't happen was hysteria. They are just unlikely. If an catastrophe has 5% chance to happen and if it would happen it would kill a third of the world population, it makes sense to try to reduce that 5% chance. Whether those methods for reducing the risk work or not is another matter, but by definition 95% of the time when disaster doesn't happen we end up with some people saying there was nothing to be afraid of in the first place.
Kevin Dunn, in Tokyo, writes: "Why is the western media so focused on the non-event that Fukushima is? An expert on the Chernobyl aftermath on BBC tonight said, "nothing has been learnt from Chernobyl by the media", it's the same sensationalist, stress and anxiety inducing scaremongering. The lessons that have been learnt are in action now by Tepco power company. She says that they have done everything "by the book", and she "very much doubts" anyone will be seriously effected by the damage of the plants. The Fukushima nuclear power plant situation is not the disaster, the real disaster is further north where tens of thousands of men, women and children have died, millions are homeless, hundreds of kids are now orphans. We have made donations and hope to volunteer. The Japanese people need our help, not for us to run away and abandon them to their fate."
In any event, there is an RSS/Atom feed on the site I created. If let's say enough radiation escapes from the nuclear plant to cause more than a dozen deaths over the next 30 years, I will switch the site to say "YES". I don't expect that to happen though.
"The following is not for the weak of heart or Fundamentalists." -- Dave Barry