Is Japan's fear of radiation worse than the radiation itself?
| 09:53 UK time, Thursday, 31 March 2011
This has been one of the most read stories worldwide for the last week. Nearly three weeks after the earthquake and Tsunami that led to the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima plant, pressure is mounting on the Japanese government to extend the evacuation zone after high levels of radiation were found outside the zone and radioactivity in seawater reached more than 4,000 times its legal limit.
russferriday tweeted,
"There seems in the world to be an irrational fear of the fear of radiation. (sic) A little more fear of radiation could have prevented this"
As radiation levels rise in Hong Kong, Iceland, China, Singapore, the US and even Scotland, following the partial meltdown at the Fuchishima nuclear plant, people are being told not to worry.
This blogger says people are unneccessarily fearful.
Many shops in Tokyo ran out of bottled water last week after radiation made tap water unsafe for babies.
It has also provoked some bizarre buying patterns. South Korean mothers have started panic buying Japanese nappies for fear they may not be able to get hold of them soon.
With frightening echoes of post Hiroshima and Nagasaki. OSUFanInJapan tweets,
Evacuees are being turned away over fear of spreading #Radiation. Evacuation Centers are turning hundreds away!
Is the fear of radiation worse than the health threat itself?
We'll be discussing this on World Have Your Say at 1100GMT
