All radiation is not alike, and that's what's being obscured. Each different isotope, just like each non-radioactive element or compound, is recognized by the body as something different (famiiarly, cesium is recognized as potassium, strontium goes to the bones, iodine to the thyroid, and for that matter, carbon monoxide is recognized as oxygen). Internal emitters are far more damaging than external sources, and air sampling isn't always sensitive enough to know when people (or other organisms) are ingesting radioactive substances. http://www.jstor.org/pss/3798285 News sources are comparing annual doses of externally-emitted background radiation to hourly doses, as though we could shut off our exposure after an hour like throwing the switch on an X-ray machine.

Obviously panic outside of Japan isn't helpful, and especially not panic over radiation that minimizes the enormous dangers of coal-based energy and offers coal as a substitute. But there's a lot of nonsense being spouted in the name of reassurance, and that isn't helpful, either.