The Dioxin Problem and Fear of Invisible Assailants (Late 1990s)

The Dioxin Problem and Fear of Invisible Assailants (Late 1990s)
In the late 1990s, anxiety over dioxin grew rapidly in Japanese society. Unlike past pollution such as Minamata disease, the health hazards were not immediately apparent, and the extent of the effects was difficult to see, which heightened people's fears. In this issue, while measures against incinerators are being promoted, concern over the environmental impact of toxic substances contained in exhaust gas and incinerator ash is repeatedly mentioned. However, residents remained skeptical that such an expansion would create new risks. In particular, the possibility that incinerated ash and fly ash would be transported to disposal sites without proper treatment, resulting in long-term contamination of soil and groundwater, was perceived as an act that, even if not illegal, would be accompanied by harm. The time-delayed structure of dioxin accumulation in the environment and its return to humans through the ecosystem created anxiety that led to the imagining of future victims. T
his issue depicts a process in which environmental destruction is perceived as a prelude to an incident, in which the potential for harm lurking in the gaps between systems and management is perceived and spread as social distrust, and the dioxin issue was a symbolic example of this process.