Period+1+-+Minamata

= Minamata Mercury Poisoning =


 * Minamata, Japan,** was the site of a devastating environmental disaster caused by the pollution of water with mercury from industrial wastewater discharged over a number of years. Evidence of mercury poisoning began to show up in aquatic wildlife and eventually spread to other local animals and humans who often consumed fish from the polluted waters. The resulting neurological syndrome afflicting those with severe mercury poisoning was termed **Minamata disease. **



Background
In the early 1900s, Minamata started out as a small coastal farming and fishing town hoping to reap the economic benefits of a new chemical plant built by the Chisso Corporation. Due to Minamata’s lack of other industry or big economy-boosters, Chisso had great influence in Minamata. By 1925, the Chisso Corporation was dumping chemical waste and destroying fishing areas. Fisheries, which were among the first to see the environmental harm caused by pollution in terms of reduced catches, were silently compensated. As the factory became more successful and advanced, it also began discharging more pollutants, including heavy metals and other toxic chemicals. The start of acetaldehyde production in 1932 began the release of methyl mercury into Minamata’s waters, which would continue for almost a decade after the effects of mercury poisoning became apparent.  

Discovery
Up until the people became aware of a “strange disease” by mid-1950s, methyl mercury began bioaccumulating in fish and biomagnifying upon ingestion by humans. Mercury also bioaccumulated in consumers of the contaminated local seafood over the years. This resulted in increasingly severe mercury poisoning of Minamata’s people and animals. http://www.rsc.org/images/fish-270_tcm18-48700.jpg ||  At first, doctors were unaware of the cause of people's illness. Victims showing symptoms such as numbness in limbs and lips, difficulty controlling limbs, impaired speech and hearing, brain damage, or involuntary movements were diagnosed as having a degeneration of their nervous systems. It would later be found that infants born by mothers who had consumed the contaminated fish exhibited physical deformities and mental retardation. People also began to notice animals acting strangely - cats appeared to "commit suicide" and birds strangely dropped from the sky - and the public became panicked.
 * = [[image:http://www.rsc.org/images/fish-270_tcm18-48700.jpg link="http://www.rsc.org/images/fish-270_tcm18-48700.jpg"]] ||
 * = **Dead fish contaminated by mercury.**

The year 1956 marked the first official discovery of Minamata Disease in a report from the health care system that "an unclarified disease of the central nervous system has broken out."

As scientists began aggressively investigating the mysteries of the disease and finding new connections, the Chisso Corporation began to fall under suspicion. Chisso readily denied all accusations and continued production, never to stop producing mercury until 1968 (the year before their final court verdict), which was only because the technology had become outdated.

http://www.terradaily.com/images/congential-minamata-disease-children-bg.jpg || 
 * = [[image:http://www.terradaily.com/images/congential-minamata-disease-children-bg.jpg]] ||
 * = **Children showing birth defects from congenital Minamata Disease**

Public Reaction
The citizens of Minamata were outraged at the Chisso Company for causing this disaster and formed various groups, cooperatives, and societies to protest and seek compensation. Victims of Minamata disease, families of deceased victims, and fishermen fought for compensation for years.

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Years of silence
In 1959, Chisso was ordered by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to install wastewater treatment systems at the factory. When Chisso feigned compliance with the installation of an deliberately ineffective device, the public was fooled into thinking the issue or Minamata disease had been solved. For ten years (the "ten years of silence"), mercury continued to spread and poison people, though people were quick to attribute the signs to other causes or ignore them altogether.

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Four Big Pollution Diseases of Japan
With the outbreak of a disease almost identical to that of Minamata, occurring in Niigata in 1965 by a company using a mercury process very similar to Chisso's, similarities between the problems allowed people to handle both situations better. Two other diseases relating to industry pollution came up around the time, and those two plus the two mercury poisoning incidents came to be known as the Four Big Pollution Diseases of Japan.

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Resolution
Finally, in 1969, the Chisso Corporation was found by court to be liable for negligence in its consistent pollution of Minamata's waters from 1932-1968 and was forced to compensate both victims and families of deceased victims. Lawsuits continue to be filed against Chisso and the government to this day.

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