Great Reads in Photography: December 19, 2021
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Symposium on Minamata disease held | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News
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Mercury poisons rivers in Peru
Mass reports of Minamata disease
Minamata disease was first identified in the city of Minamata, in the southern Kumamoto prefecture in 1956 and was traced to the release of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater of a chemical factory.
The release was discovered after many locals began reporting severe neurological symptoms, including numbness in the limbs, muscle weakness, loss of vision and damage to hearing and speech. In extreme cases, it can cause paralysis, insanity, coma or even death within just a matter of weeks.
The toxic chemicals, released by a factory owned by the Chisso Corporation, had built up in fish in the Shiranui Sea, which made up the staple diet of thousands of local people. Over the years, Chisso and the local Minamata government have been widely criticized for attempting to block investigations into the causes of the poisoning.