Michael Fumento

In my recent piece on Chernobyl and the disaster that wasn't, I noted that no American has ever been harmed by nuclear energy but "that accidents caused by natural gas, petroleum products, and accidents and black lung disease from coal take a steady toll of lives each year." That was brought home rather horrifically when a bus evacuating nursing home patients from Hurricane Rita exploded, killing 24 persons aboard. It's only human to discount those things which commonly afflict us and exaggerate those which pose little or no threat. (Remember the panic when SARS came along and killed exactly zero Americans.) But it's still not a good basis for public policy.