As a buzzword, "dioxin" has quickly come to represent all that's wrong with Japan's mish-mash of contradictory and ineffective environmental policies.
Most people know the stuff is bad for you, and they probably also know that it's mainly a byproduct of burning garbage. That's all they need to know in order to feel worried and angry when they hear that Japan accounts for 40 percent of all the dioxin spewed out by the industrialized world.
Last Monday, the government finally passed legislation with teeth to restrict dioxin emissions more effectively. The move is being met with cries of "too little too late," but the very fact that it's in the news every day focuses people's attention on just how close the danger is to their own lives. They know that dioxin is out there waiting for them. They just don't know where exactly.