Officials have no right to dismiss as “irrational” the public's mistrust of official pronouncements about the 11 March earthquake and tsunami damage to Japan's nuclear reactors in Fukushima.

The public in Japan and elsewhere has figured out two things about Fukushima. First, what might happen next is a potentially bigger problem than what has happened so far; and second, governments, experts and authorities have been consistently behind the curve in talking openly about what might happen next.

People are suspicious of official assurances that the current situation will get no worse, maybe rightly. They don't trust the authorities to tell them the ways in which it could get worse and how likely it is to do so. Many don't even trust the authorities to tell them promptly if it does.

As a result, a variety of precautions that might be considered excessive or premature if the public felt they could trust the authorities — avoiding Japanese foods, for example, or seeking out a supply of potassium iodide — suddenly become sensible and should not be branded as illogical, hysterical or radiophobic.