Ann Coulter appeared on Thursday's "O'Reilly Factor" to advance an argument that she made in a column this week: that radiation is "good for you."
There has been a high degree of concern about the levels of radiation being released into the environment due to the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. But, in a column called "A Glowing Report On Radiation," Coulter said that many scientists have been studying the effects of radiation and have found that, as she put it," at some level--much higher than the minimums set by the U.S. government--radiation is good for you," and actually reduced the risk of cancer.
She repeated this assertion to a skeptical Bill O'Reilly, who told her that, even if there was scientific discussion going on about the effects of radiation, it was the media's job to be "responsible" and "err on the side of caution" about radiation. "You have to report the worst-case scenario," he said, adding that there is a clear scientific consensus that "some radiation will kill you."
Coulter said she disagreed, and said that the scientific consensus has changed, but that the media are not reporting it.
"So by your account we should all be heading towards the nuclear reactor," O'Reilly said.