Minamata disease is caused by

As a storyteller at the Minamata Disease Municipal Museum, Mr. Ogata helps to keep alive the memory of what is considered to be one of the most serious Japanese pollution incidents of the Twentieth Century. The incident was caused by the release of toxic chemicals from an industrial plant, which accumulated in shellfish and fish, and were then eaten by the local population. More than 2,000 people have been recognized as victims, many of whom, including Mr. Ogata, had to fight for recognition and compensation: around 20 members of his family were affected by the disease, which causes muscle weakness, loss of peripheral vision, and hearing and speech impairment. Masami Ogata, a storyteller at the Minimata Disease Municipal Museum in Japan, who lives with the disease. “Minamata disease first caused damage to my family in September 1957. When I was nearly two years old, my grandfather Fukumatsu Ogata suddenly developed an unexplained illness, which worsened day by day, with convulsions and drooling, difficulty walking, speech problems, and other symptoms. Minamata Disease is a neurological disease caused by severe mercury poisoning. Two months later, he passed away in the isolation and infectious diseases ward at the Minamata City Hospital. That was the first tragedy caused by Minamata disease in the Ogata family. However, we were never told what caused the illness. My sister Hitomi, who was born a week before her grandfather developed the illness, was born with a disability, ...

• العربية • تۆرکجه • Bân-lâm-gú • Català • Cebuano • Čeština • Deutsch • Eesti • Español • Esperanto • Euskara • فارسی • Français • Galego • 한국어 • Ido • Bahasa Indonesia • Italiano • Malagasy • مصرى • مازِرونی • Bahasa Melayu • Nederlands • 日本語 • Нохчийн • Polski • Português • Română • Русский • Suomi • Svenska • Tagalog • Татарча / tatarça • ไทย • Тоҷикӣ • Türkçe • Українська • Tiếng Việt • 文言 • Winaray • 粵語 • 中文 The city is best known as the former site of an In 1968 the discharge of poisonous effluent was ceased due to discontinuation of 3 of sludge was dredged and 582,000 m 2 of land was reclaimed. By 2007, a total of 2,668 people were certified as Legacy [ ] The first patient with previously unseen neurological symptoms was reported in Minamata in 1956. In 1959, a researcher from The 1970 session of the In 1978, the Despite the fact that anti-pollution measures and patient-support programmes started in the 1970s, it took four more decades for the Government to fully admit responsibility and apologize on-site; on 1 May 2010 Prime Minister Hatoyama was the first Prime Minister to participate in a yearly-held Memorial Service for the Victims of Minamata Disease and to so demonstrate regret on behalf of the national government. Minamata Eco-Town [ ] Minamata Eco-Town constitutes a set of environmental goals and initiatives, which seek to turn the town's negative legacy into a positive present and future. The idea dates back to 1992. In that year, the municipal government ...

On the sea banks west of the Eco-park Minamata, there lay a series of Jizo stone statues (a guardian deity that watches over children). They are all facing outwards towards the Yatsushiro Sea, which is also known as the Shiranui Sea. Each stone was picked by a victim of Minamata Disease from the sludge and carved into these spirit stones. These statues express their thoughts for the future of Minamata. Jizo statues spread out on the grass patch along the west banks. (Image: Roger Ong) The presence of the Jizo statues’ comes two-fold. Behind them is the landfill that locks in the toxic mercury sludge that poisoned the city and its environment. They represent the spirit tablets guarding the souls lost to terrible Minamata Disease. They are also watching over the Shiranui Sea, protecting the Minamata residents from another tragedy from happening. Vigil over the Shiranui Sea. (Image: Roger Ong) Today, the Minamata Disease problem remains unresolved. Although the toxic sludge no longer poses a threat to the environment and its people today, the decades of suffrage the city went through, including prejudice, insufficient compensation, and dissension, are still alive today. A brief history of the horror of the Minamata Disease Why is this disease often described as a horror? Because of the nature of its arrival, silent and irreparable. But perhaps many more would call it an injustice because of how the Dancing Cat Fever, and the first human case of Minamata Disease The deadly dis...

Minamata disease was caused by eating large quantities of fish and shellfish polluted by methyl mercury discharged into Minamata Bay. Minamata disease is not a contagious or genetically transmitted disease. It was officially discovered in Minamata, Kumamoto prefecture in 1956, and in 1968 the national government announced that this pollution-related disease was caused by Chisso Co., Ltd.. The methyl mercury that enters the body mainly attacks the central nervous system. The symptoms include numbness and unsteadiness in the legs and hands, tiredness, ringing in the ears, narrowing of the field of vision, loss of hearing, slurred speech, and awkward movements. Some early severe victims of Minamata disease went insane, became unconscious, and died within a month of the onset of the disease. There are also victims with chronic Minamata disease symptoms, such as headaches, frequent tiredness, loss of the senses of smell and taste, and forgetfulness, which are not easily visible but make daily life difficult. Moreover, there are congenital Minamata disease patients, who were born with handicaps after being attacked by methyl mercury while in the wombs of their mothers who consumed polluted fish. No cure for Minamata disease has yet been discovered, so treatment consists of attempts to lessen the symptoms and physical rehabilitation therapy. In addition to the physical damage, there is also social harm, such as discrimination in relation to Minamata disease. Humans have had a lon...

abuses affiliation arrow-down arrow-left arrow-right arrow-up attack-type burger chevron-down chevron-left chevron-right chevron-up Clock icon close delete development-poverty discrimination dollar download email environment external-link facebook filter gender globe groups health C4067174-3DD9-4B9E-AD64-284FDAAE6338@1x information-outline information instagram investment-trade-globalisation issues labour languages Shape Combined Shape line, chart, up, arrow, graph LinkedIn location map-pin minus news organisation other overview plus preview Artboard 185 profile refresh Icon news search security Path Stock down Stock steady Stock up tag tick tooltip twitter universality web Snapshot: In 1974, victims of Minamata disease won their lawsuit against Chisso Corportation, the Japanese Government, and the Kumamoto Prefecture over the health impact of the wastewater from the company's chemical factory. that contained mercury. In 1995, the Japanese Government provided a settlement for Japanese workers who had not contracted Minamata disease, most workers took the settlement. However, the Minamata Disease Kansai Patients Association refused the settlement and pursued litigation. The Patients Association won their lawsuit at the Osaka High Court and the ruling was affirmed by the Supreme Court in 2004. Liability has been extended to the Kumamoto Prefecture for other cases as well. Between 1938 and 1968, the wastewater from Chisso Corporation’s chemical factory in the Kumamoto distric...

Minamata Disease Minamata disease (MD), a disease typically acquired from mercury-contaminated fish, has been strongly associated with smell loss. From: Handbook of Clinical Neurology, 2015 Related terms: • Barbiturate • Patient • Xenobiotic Agent • Organomercury Compound • Intoxication • Methylmercury • Cytochrome P450 T Yorifuji, T Tsuda, in Encyclopedia of Toxicology (Third Edition), 2014 Definition of Minamata Disease Minamata disease in Japan is the most famous case of methylmercury food poisoning. The first patient was officially notified to the local Public Health Center in May 1, 1956. The source and transmission mode is contaminated fish and shellfish. The etiologic agent is methylmercury, a by-product of acetaldehyde production, which was discharged from the Chisso factory from 1932 until 1968. During this period, the discharge was not stopped, and no effective measures or investigations were undertaken. The target organ of methylmercury is the central nervous system. The affected patients manifest neurological signs, including paresthesia, ataxia, dysarthria, constriction of the visual field, and/or hearing difficulties. These neurological signs were observed even among residents with hair mercury content below 50μgg −1. The affected residents manifest psychiatric symptoms (e.g., impairment of intelligence and mood and behavioral dysfunction) as well. It is also reported that the prevalence of hypertension was elevated in the affected areas. A particularly distr...

Congenital Minamata disease patient Shinobu Sakamoto, 61, and her mother Fujie sit in a car as they head for a hospital in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, September 14, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon Forty-five years on, she is traveling again, this time to Geneva, to attend from Sunday a gathering of signatories to the first global pact to rein in mercury pollution. Sakamoto is one of a shrinking group of survivors from a 1950s industrial disaster in which tens of thousands of people were poisoned after waste water from a chemical plant seeped into the Minamata bay. (Graphic link The waste contained a toxic organic compound, methylmercury, which can cause severe damage to the brain and nervous system, leading to a condition called Minamata disease. It gives its name to the U.N.-backed treaty that took effect last month. Symptoms worsen with age, leaving some victims grappling with the question of who will care for them after the death of siblings and parents, while others face legal disputes. “If I don’t say something, no one will know about Minamata disease,” said Sakamoto, who is one of the few born with the disease who is still able to talk. “There are still so many problems, and I want people to know.” FEW SURVIVORS Just 528 people survive from among the 3,000 certified victims of Minamata disease, environment ministry data shows. More than 20,000 people have sought to be designated victims, hoping for legal compensation. Slideshow ( 22 images ) “We need to take s...