The Clown US Surgeon General And Her Tinfoil Hat

Do you remember Regina Benjamin? You know, the US Surgeon General who, in December, declared from a position of certainty that just one wisp of smoke from someone else's cigarette could kill you? Well, it would seem that her love of quite ludicrous health scares has landed her in another spot of bother.

While the media froth at the mouth in hopeful anticipation of a nuclear disaster, many have been pointing out that there has been something of an over-reaction going on.

So the jury is definitely out as to whether Japanese people local to the Fukushima plant might suffer some radiation problem but, some 12,000km away in San Francisco, poor Regina - aww, bless - has come under fire for describing panic buying of radiation pills by west coast Americans as not extreme and downright stupid, but "a precaution, yeah".

Hmm, well kinda. Except that there is nothing much to be precautionary about.

The interim director of the California Department of Public Health, Dr. Howard Backer, and the acting secretary of the California Emergency Management Agency, Mike Dayton, issued a joint statement about the pills:

We urge Californians to not take potassium iodide as a precautionary measure. It is not necessary given the current circumstances in Japan, it can present a danger to people with allergies to iodine, shellfish or who have thyroid problems, and taken inappropriately it can have serious side effects including abnormal heart rhythms, nausea, vomiting, electrolyte abnormalities and bleeding.

So it would appear that Regina's tinfoil hattery has had the opposite effect ... she may be risking the public's health by being such a panic-stricken loon.

"The amount of radiation, if any, that ever reaches the U.S. is going to be so small that it's probably going to be less than the radiation one could get in flying from Los Angeles to New York," says Dr. Glenn Braunstein, chairman of the Department of Medicine at L.A.'s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Perhaps prompted by the guffaws at Regina's woeful incompetence, her office has issued a 'clarification' of her comments.

"She commented that it is always important to be prepared however she wouldn’t recommend that anyone go out and purchase KI for themselves at this time. She further commented that it’s important for residents who have concerns to listen to state and local health authorities"

Which bears no resemblance to what she said as she was bumbling her inept way through the televised interview.

Seeing as it's Comic Relief tomorrow, perhaps Lenny Henry could pop a big squidgy red nose in the post to Regina so she can be more easily recognisable as she goes about her daily duties.