"Radio-phobia" rears its ugly head once again, this time at Fukushima

An especially cynical manifestation of "Nukespeak" is the use of "radiophobia" to explain away actual radiological injuries.Nuclear power boosters have long tried to convince victims of radioactive catastrophes that "it's all in your head." Both at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, the nuclear power industry -- and its friends in government regulatory agencies, the PR industry, and even academia -- tried to convince the public that any ill effects were not due to physical impacts of radioactive fallout, but rather to stress and worry caused by "anti-nuclear fear mongering." A short piece in NewScientist gives this Orwellian "psy-ops" ploy "airtime" yet again, this time in the context of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe.