Minamata
Disease
Timeline
By: Erin Montgomery
Resolution
Ontario-Minamata Disease
- in 1907 the Chisso corporation moved into the small farming town of minamata. and by 1932 they produced many chemicals but the most notable was acetaldehyde.
- in the early 1950's seemingly without notice some people began to loose they're balance, not be able to hold chopsticks properly, or even button up their own clothes, however at this point no one took notice of these strange occurrences and acted as if they weren't really anything
- in 1952 cats started showing strange behaviors such as muscle spasms which resulted in them throwing themselves onto roads and off of cliffs. the locals called this "dancing cat sickness" or "cat suicides"
- by 1956 a full on outbreak of the illness had devastated the town. the people of minamata were sick, scared, and above all confused. no one had any clue as to what was happening.
- 1959 a medical researches conducted tests in the Chisso corporation hospital on some of the infected cats, which resulted in the realizing the "illness" was caused by heavy metal poisoning. specifically a bi-product of acetaldehyde. a particularly nasty one called methyl mercury. the information that a leak from the factory was causing the illness was not made public at this time. by now there were over 100 confirmed cases and 20 deaths
- only in the early 1970's was the company called to court and was found guilty and forced to compensate all the confirmed cases which totaled to 3.2 million dollars. and more as time went on and more cases surfaced.by the end of this ordeal there were almost 1000 confirmed cases and 2000 unconfirmed. the Chisso corporation still operates in minamata making chemical, disks, and fertilizers.
- by 2004 over 2265 people were confirmed with minamata disease over 1000 of which had already died and the total number of compensation money dealed out by the chisso corporation was over 86 million.as well over 2000 to-be-confirmed people received compensation as well as the same time chisso was forced to clean the contaminated sight. the basin used to store the waste has now been filled in and a memorial garden now lies in its places.
the only measures taken to stop an outbreak of minamata disease happen again was to fix the leak in the factory and cease production aceteldehyde.
the only way to completely stop minamata disease from ever happening again is to assure that chemical plants are far away from sources of water and are regulated regularily to assure no accidents or unknown "leaks" can happen.
in 1970 the Dryden chemical company, in Dryden ontario discharged waste into the Wabigoon-English river. heavy mercury poisoning was discovered causing the closing of a local fishing port. japanese doctors who had studied Minamata disease came to Canada to help investigate the mercury poisoning. almost all the symptoms were the same.
Effects on people
the effects of methyl murcury poisoning cause,
- numbness of limbs
- blindness
- hearing loss
- damage to speech
- muscle weakness
- insanity
- and of course death.
Although Minamata disease is not contagious it can be passed on through birth. this is called fetal-Minamata disease.
Minamata
Disease
- The 1930's to the 1960's was a very bad time for the small coastal town of Minamata Japan.
- a large leak from cooperation in the town was spilling an Acetaldehyde bi-product (methyl mercury) into the Minamata bay.
- this effected the sea-life which was then caught and consumed by the people and animals.
Thank You!
Social Effect
the people who were effected by Minamata disease were shunned from they're communities. because nobody knew about the illness, no one knew how it was contracted or if it was contagious. there is one account of a man hating his ill neighbors and talking about them behind their backs with other community members, until he himself got sick and they shunned him as well. entire families were effected even unborn children.
people who were exposed to the sea more, such as fishermen, were effected the most.
60% of people who worked at Chisso were from Minamata either did not know, or were forced by company pride to keep secret what they knew