Tressa Parkes

A5
Minamata Disease
The Minamata Disease was a very serious disease that polluted Minamata bay
from 1932-1968. The disease immensely affected the health of many, the economy, and
of course the sea life and waters of Minamata Bay and other neighboring bodies of
water. Many steps couldve been taken to prevent this disaster, but at last, it wasn't
unnoticed until damage had already taken place.
Minamata disease occurred when Chisso Corporation in Kumamoto Japan
dumped an estimated 27 tons of mercury compound into Minamata Bay. In the small
village of Kumamoto, many diets were heavily based on fish. And all of these diets
would soon enough be greatly affected. By 1925, Chisso was regularly dumping waste
into Minamata Bay, completely destroying the fishing areas. Eventually, Chisso began
to use mercury compounds in almost everything they produced, spanning from plastics
to perfumes. Chisso, being the popular corporation it was, was going unnoticed in their
actions with mercury. It wasn't until 1950 when people started noticing strange
symptoms of a disease. This strange disease caused degeneration in the nervous
system. This degeneration causes symptoms including of, numbness in limbs, slurred
speech, constricted vision, brain damage, unconsciousness, involuntary movements,
and uncontrollable shouting.
Eugene Smith interviewed the people of Minamata and discovered that Chisso
believed it to be cheaper to pay off the people opposed to the dumping, rather than to
find an environmentally safe way to dispose of the waste. Because of this, the dumping
became completely ethical. Finally on May 1st, 1956, Dr. Hajime Hosokawa, from the
Chisso Corporation Hospital, announced that an unclarified disease of the central
nervous system has broken out. He linked the disease to those with diet heavily
consisting of fish, and soon enough investigators of the disease accused Chisso for
polluting the seas. Chisso denied the accusations, and began dumping waste into
Minamata river, in hopes they would no longer be accused. But, little did Chisso know,
Minamata river flows past Hachimon and into the Shiranui Sea. People in that area
began to have symptoms of this strange disease.
At last, in 1959, researchers from Kumamoto University in Japan concluded that
organic mercury was the cause of this Minamata Disease. Once again, Chisso denied
the accusation. But Dr. Hosokawa was determined to prove Chisso wrong. He
performed concealed cat experiments in front of Chisso Corporation to show them the
effects of mercury poisoning. Fisherman soon began protesting for compensation, but
were soon intimidated by the threats of Chisso management. In 1969 Chisso was forced
into court, but the only reason their polluting stopped, was that their method for mercury
production became outdated.
Chisso polluted Minamata Bay from 1932-1968. By 1974, there were only 798
victims officially recognized for having Minamata Disease. And still, 3,000 were waiting
for verification. In 1993, forty years after this disaster, victims were still being
compensated for damages. As you can see, the Minamata Disease affected the health
of many, as well as copious amounts of environmental destruction.

Many steps can be taken to prevent disasters like this from happening in the
future. First of all, companies and people alike, need to know about the dangers of
chemicals they are working with as well as the harm that can be done if those chemicals
are handled incorrectly. Second, we must not accept bribery to happen in case of a
serious environmental hazard. If we know of something happening that is damaging the
environment, we must take all necessary steps to stopping the damage.
Ive chosen the Minamata disaster to research and write about, as I find the fact
that a company knew they were damaging the environment, and continued to do so,
rather intriguing. Chisso would rather spend money, than find a way to safely expose of
their companies waste. And knowing that, I was curious of the story in whole. My
investigation on the Minamata Disease has enhanced my learning about ecology and
ecosystems in a way that, Ive now had experience with just how much something can
affect the ecosystem in a whole. I have also now discovered that ecology is extremely
important and it is something everyone should study. If everyone took the time to study
ecology, we could prevent ecological disasters from taking place in the future.