While it can be quite amusing to watch people running around like you-know-what, it's also rather sad.
They are truly scared by something they do not understand, cannot see, and cannot comprehend. The media in many cases is *NOT* helping with leader sentences like 'Thyroid, for sure...'.
I feel somewhat like "I must be stupid" when I'm going about my usual life without fretting about my iodine levels, a dosimeter, and so forth, but I was far more concerned about the tsunami's effect on my friends who are on the coast than I am about any possible radiation.
It is almost certain that we will see more damage from overdoses of iodine than we will from radiation, and why?
Because no one has educated anyone on preparedness for this kind of problem! Earthquakes, well, we ignore preparedness for those with flair and elan on a regular basis, but nobody told us how to ignore being prepared for radiation issues. Our ignorance is now showing as low-class, even tacky, panic behavior.
(Yes, that paragraph was meant as a joke. Kinda.)
I would LOVE to see a yard full of foil-wrapped, zinc-ointment-wearing chickens with matching owner...now THAT's style!
(Right up to when the sun comes out, when you'd be wishing you'd uses teriyaki instead of zinc...)