Private-sector health surveys by doctors and other experts have detected symptoms similar to those of recognized patients even among residents who do not live in the areas covered by the law or do not belong to the age groups eligible for the relief program. No such surveys have yet been carried out. It is also vital to conduct health surveys of local residents as provided by the special measures law. The government must pay more serious attention to what patients say and take such steps as reviewing the recognition criteria and expanding the relief program. Its stance has made a mockery of the 2009 special measures law to expand relief to Minamata disease victims, which promises to provide “as much relief as possible” as the “final solution” to the problem. But the central government has refused to revise the recognition criteria. In 20, the Supreme Court twice called for widening the scope of the relief program. Some 1,700 are involved in lawsuits against the central government and other parties.īehind their plight are strict criteria for official recognition as patients. Some 1,400 people, however, are still waiting to receive official recognition as Minamata disease patients from Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures. A total of 2,283 people have since been officially recognized as patients, and some 70,000 have been acknowledged to have suffered adverse effects from the pollution. In 1968, the central government finally recognized Minamata disease as caused by industrial pollution. The central and prefectural governments also failed to take action to stop the release of wastewater. The neurological syndrome was caused by wastewater containing methylmercury released into the sea from the chemical manufacturer Chisso Corp.’s factory in Minamata.Īs the toxic chemical accumulated in shellfish and fish, local residents who ate them without knowing the pollution suffered from mercury poisoning.Įven after the official confirmation of the disease, Chisso refused to acknowledge the link between the wastewater and the health problems. May 1 this year will mark the 65th anniversary. This report is known as the first official confirmation of Minamata disease cases. On May 1 that year, a hospital in Minamata reported an influx of people suffering from symptoms of an unknown cause to a local public health center. In 1956, a large number of local residents began to show symptoms of poisoning after eating fish caught in the Shiranui Sea, a calm and resource-rich inland sea in Kyushu. It needs to go all out to give them the long-overdue relief they deserve as a step to laying a foundation for a commitment to never repeat the same mistake. The government should not allow their suffering to continue any longer. Many victims are still waiting to be officially recognized as patients of Minamata disease, the mercury poisoning caused by industrial wastewater released into the sea off Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture.
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