The radiation industry--I'm sorry, the nuclear industry--has long joined others--like the chemical, fertilizer, pesticide and similar industries--to spin and twist truths to conjure support and calm. Knowing all the while they are at best managing temporarily controlled harm and death.

The media gobbles it up--they need quotes--and reports, thus slapping credibility on such claims. They now ignore the cardinal rule of journalism: If your mother says she loves you, check it out. Check out and challenge EVERYTHING.

Then we get clobbered. Hell erupts. People die. And they say, "Oh, we didn't expect this," right out of the PR spin playbook. And the media gobbles it up--and spits it at us. And we trust those that created the nightmare to lead the crisis response. After all, the media has assured us, they are the experts.

History is rife with lies that turned deadly. But as the dollar and the yen control all, truth is set aside. And a radioactive plague sweeps through the Land of the Rising Sun.

No credible scientist uses the word "safe" in regard to exposure to radiation or any other potentially toxic agent. Listen to them (us) carefully; we always refer to "risk" or "increased risk," since this is all that any research study can measure. Next notice how frequently politicians or media figures, even responsible journalists, use the term "safe" when they report on these issues. This misrepresentati on is rampant, perhaps because the concept of "increased risk" is just too hard to understand or explain. We accommodate increased risk in almost every phase of our lives (transportation , power sources, food, medicines, etc.) but we rarely think about them and often don't even know about them.