Seventy Years of Minamata Disease
Seventy years have passed since the first patient of Minamata Disease, one of the most serious social nuisances in post-war Japan, was discovered in Minamata city, Kumamoto. Not only the company that caused the disease but the government of Japan has been accused of failing in salvaging the sufferers. The patients still demand support from the government. A health care center in Minamata received a report that a patient with unknown brain symptom was hospitalized on May 1 st , 1956. The disease was later identified as neurological paralysis caused by methylmercury. This chemical material was supposed to be brought by fish in the sea, which was polluted by waste water emitted from a company that produced fertilizer, Chisso. The patients ate those fish. In 1968, Minamata Disease was designated as a public pollution disease which was caused by pollutive material produced by industrial activities. The government had to support the sufferers as a legal obligation. A...