Shep Smith scolded Americans stocking up on potassium iodide pills due to fears of radiation poisoning coming from Japan, where a nuclear crisis is raging.
Speaking to correspondent Trace Gallagher on Wednesday, Smith scoffed at the notion that radiation was threatening the U.S., even though there has been no warning saying such a thing, and scientists have said that the country is too far away to be affected.
"This sounds a little silly, frankly," Smith said. "Do we know where the biggest rush for these pills is happening? And why someone isn't trying to talk these people down off a ledge? It's 5500 miles away, Trace!"
Gallagher said that people as far away as Michigan have been stocking up on pills, and that suppliers of the pills are having trouble keeping up with demand.
"Well that's almost sad and pathetic," Smith said. "I know everybody wants to feel the pain of these people over here, wants to feel badly for them, but to take these pills, that's just tantamount to crazy."
He pointed out that he and his crew were just 100 miles from the Fukushima plant, and had not taken the pills.
"[People] sitting 7,000 miles away in Michigan: don't be dumb," he said.
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