Heated Fox Debate Breaks Out as Scientist ‘Redoubles’ Claim of ‘Overblown’ Nuke Concerns

(By Jonathon M. Seidl, The Blaze) - Heartland Institute science director Jay Lehr is not backing down from his claim that the media has “overblown” concerns of nuclear catastrophe in Japan. In fact, after his controversial Fox News phone-in appearance yesterday, he joined the network in-studio today and said he’s “redoubling” his claim.

(Watch Lehr’s original interview.)

That didn’t make fellow guest Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental research, too happy. He argued that even low-level amounts of radiation are cause for concern. That stirred the pot.

For those who might want to write this off as a nerdy, science fair-like debate between two braniacs, it’s not. And considering all the talk of meltdown, it’s an important conversation that must be had: