Ask Your Doctor About Dylar

The climax, such as it were, of Don Delillo's White Noise is a dread-inducing "Airborne Toxic Event" loosed from a leaky railway car. Haunted by the specter of mortality, the protagonist seeks out a black market drug called Dylar, said to alleviate the fear of death.

The novel came to mind when news broke last week of a fire in a hazardous waste storage facility in North Carolina that triggered a large-scale evacuation as toxic smoke plumes darkened the sky. Ironically, the company that owned the warehouse is named Environmental Quality Industrial Services. The town is named Apex -- postmodern touches even Delillo would envy.

Turns out EQ Industrial had a similar incident in its plant in Romulus, Michigan in 2005. The company, which also had its wrist slapped for more recent violations, has been less than forthcoming about what exactly what went up in smoke in North Carolina. In the meantime, company representatives say the air around Apex is fine and that residents can breathe easy.

Investigations are ongoing, but the event drives home the need to strengthen and step up enforcement of the Community Right-to-Know laws that were passed in the wake of the worst of all 'Airborne Toxic Events' -- the Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal, India. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has moved the opposite direction by taking steps to weaken public reporting of toxic releases in order to ease the compliance burden on companies.

Excuse me while I pop another Dylar.