Minamata Disease and the Mercury Pollution of the Globe. Minamata Disease and the Mercury Pollution of the Globe Masazumi Harada, M.D., Ph.D.
The Minamata disaster - 50 years on. High performance access to file storage Also in this week's column:
The Poisoning of Minamata. The Poisoning of Minamata by Douglas Allchin It started out quite simply, with the strangeness of cats "dancing" in the street--and sometimes collapsing and dying.
Who would have known, in a modest Japanese fishing village in the 1950s, that when friends or family members occasionally shouted uncontrollably, slurred their speech, or dropped their chopsticks at dinner, that one was witnessing the subtle early symptoms of a debilitating nervous condition caused by ingesting mercury? Yet when such scattered, apparently unconnected, and mildly mysterious events began to haunt the town of Minamata, Japan, they were the first signs of one of the most dramatic and emotionally moving cases of industrial pollution in history. Minamata Disaster. Minamata Disaster CASE NUMBER: 246 CASE MNEMONIC: MINAMATA CASE NAME: Minamata, Japan Disaster I.
IDENTIFICATION 1. The Issue Over 3,000 victims have been recognized as having "Minamata Disease". It has taken some of these people over thirty years to receive compensation for this inconceivable event. Magnum Photos - Search Result. Methylmercury Contamination in Fish, CSA - Discovery Guides. Minamata, Japan - Toxipedia. [This article has been tagged for development.]
Overview During the 1950's an acetaldehyde plant in Minamata began dumping heavy metals into the local bay, and ended up poisoning the local aquatic wildlife. After a while, poison symptoms began emerging in the local population, many of which lost basic motor controls and began to act very irregularly. Toxicological Perspective In the late 1950s Minimata Bay became contaminated with Mercury from a nearby factory manufacturing the chemical acetaldehyde. Initial symptoms included uncoordinated movement and numbness of the lips and extremities, followed by constricted vision (#Gilbert, 2004).
The Japanese authorities were hesitant to publicize the issue and just over a year later a similar incident happened at Niigata, Japan where 13 people died and 330 were affected. References Gilbert, Steven G. Methylmercury Contamination in Fish, CSA - Discovery Guides. 0136038026. Chapter - 4 Minamata disease. Contents - Previous - Next This is the old United Nations University website.
Visit the new site at Chapter - 4 Minamata disease I. Jun Ui. Methylmercury Contamination in Fish, CSA - Discovery Guides. How Mercury Causes Neurodegeneration (Brain Damage) Minamata disease: Outbreak & cause. Release of Mercury at Minamata Japan Population Dynamics 2. One of the earliest and a significant environmental pollution occurred in the 1950s at Minamata Bay in southwestern Kyushu, Japan.
In 1956, the first Minamata disease patient was reported initially as suffering from nervous symptoms of an unknown cause in Minamata City, which is located along the Yatsushiro sea coast in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. Minamata disease resulted from the release of mercury from an acetaldehyde plant into Minamata Bay. In the plant, acetaldehyde had been synthesized by the hydration of acetylene, and mercury oxide dissolved in sulfuric acid was used as a catalyst. 50 000 _ 45 000 ? 40 000 ■5 35 000 | 30 000 a 25 000 ]| 20 000 | 15000 g 10000 A5 000 Acetaldehyde production Methylmercury emission 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 Year Figure 1 Transition of acetaldehyde production and the release of methylmercury to Minamata Bay from the factory.
Mercury discharges into the bay has led to a reduction in contamination levels in some species. Minamata (City (-shi), Kumamoto, Japan) - Population, Map & Location by »City Population« Japan's Minamata Disease still lingers. By Joseph Coleman, Associated Press Writer SHIRANUI SEA, Japan — The dawn is still only a faint glow beyond distant mountains, but fisherman Akinori Mori and his wife, Itsuko, are already hard at work on their boat, reeling in nets of squid, fish and crabs.
Nothing about this placid scene reveals that Japan's worst environmental disaster unfolded here. Starting 50 years ago, whole neighborhoods were poisoned by mercury-contaminated fish from these waters. Thousands of people were crippled, and hundreds died agonizing deaths. Babies were born with horrifying deformities. Minamata Disease » Sustainability. Minamata disease, sometimes referred to as Chisso-Minamata disease, is a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning.
Symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, narrowing of the field of vision and damage to hearing and speech. In extreme cases, insanity, paralysis, coma and death follow within weeks of the onset of symptoms. A congenital form of the disease can also affect fetuses. Minamata disease was first discovered in Minamata City in Kumamoto prefecture, Japan in 1956. It was caused by the release of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater (point source pollution) from the Chisso Corporation's chemical factory, which continued from 1932 to 1968. As of March 2001, 2,265 victims had been officially recognized (1,784 of whom had died) and over 10,000 had received financial compensation from Chisso.