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A little girl named Tomoko Uemura; was born in 1956 with Minamata Disease. Her mother appeared to be healthy, but the mercury had attacked the child before she was born.
Older, less affected victims of the disease, took Tomoko before The Central Pollution Board. They demanded that the board members look, touch, hold this child, and to etch this experience of her in their memories. Human life was being evaluated in the form of dollars and cents.
On March 20, 1973, the day of the victims' court triumph over Chisso Corporation, someone wrote a headline: "The Day That Tomoko Smiled." Was this little girl aware of her surroundings? Could she have possibly known the extent that her suffering played in this victory? More than likely, she could have cared less. I guess no one will ever know.
THE DAY THE CATS OF MINAMATA, JAPAN THREW THEMSELVES INTO THE BAY
By, Sandra L. Justus
Our story begins in the year 1907 when the Chisso Corporation built a factory in the fishing village of Minamata, Japan. The factory was built on the shore of Minamata Bay. The people were excited in the hopes of becoming industrialized because, if the factory did well, they would have the opportunity for economic growth. Chisso is the Japanese word for "Nitrogen." In the beginning the factory made fertilizer.
The first warning signs that something was wrong came in 1925. The fish population in the Bay started to decline. This caused hardships for the fishermen and their families. They depended on the fish to make their living and to feed their families. So after numerous complaints from the fishermen, and the discovery of new technologies, in 1932 Chisso began making a new product. They started manufacturing plastics. By 1950, the fish in Minamata Bay began to float to the surface of the sea, shellfish began to perish, and some of the seaweed died. But this was just the beginning of the troubles ahead for the people of Minamata.
In 1952, bizarre events began happening around Minamata Bay! The children stopped playing to watch the strangest sight! The cats were displaying uncontrollable, grotesque jerking and leaping movements. They ran through the field where the children were playing and lunged into the Bay, to be swallowed up by the ocean and drowned. These episodes began to happen more and more frequently; the local people began to call it The Cats' Dancing Disease. The cats of Minamata would stagger around as if they were drunk, slobbering, and then suddenly go into convulsions or impulsively whirling in violent circles. Often the cats had no control over which direction they were heading and would either end up throwing themselves into the sea or collapsing.
The cats weren't the only animals doing strange things! Crows, sea birds and other birds began to drop into the sea while flying. Octopus and cuttlefish began floating to the water surface; they were so weak that the children were able to catch them with their bare hands. By 1953, pigs, dogs, and other animals began to contract The Dancing Disease.
In 1956 the first case of humans having The Strange Disease was recognized in a little girl. At the time she was 5 years and 11 months old. The child who was normally very bright showed signs of brain damage; she became wobbly on her feet and walked as if she were drunk, her speech was slurred and she appeared to be delirious. She too started having convulsions. Soon after her diagnosis, many more children began to demonstrate symptoms of this strange disease; babies were being born with it and eventually adults started to develop symptoms. What was happening in Minamata? Was The Cats' Dancing Disease contagious?
Doctors searched to find answers. Between 1957 and 1958 so many cats died that there were virtually none to be found in the Minamata Bay Area. Researchers brought in healthy cats and fed them three meals a day containing 10 grams of Minamata Bay Fish at each meal. Within 51 days, the cats became sick with The Dancing Disease. More scientists came to search for the cause of the disease. They finally traced The Strange Disease to the Chisso Corporation, which was dumping mercury into The Bay. After being in the water a short time, the mercury transformed into Methyl Mercury, a highly lethal, toxic chemical.
The fish that swam in the Bay absorbed the toxins through their gills. Because it takes several years for mercury to decompose and break down, anyone or anything that ate the fish would accumulate (build up) dangerous levels of mercury in their bodies. This process is called bioaccumulation. As it spreads through the food chain it becomes worse or magnifies and is referred to as biomagnification. The dangerous levels of mercury within the bodies of those who ate the fish went to the brain causing the brain to start deteriorating. This deterioration became known as Minamata Disease, even though it is really chemical poisoning, and in fact, is not a disease at all.
Chisso denied having any part in the poisoning. They spent a lot of money trying to cover up any evidence that would incriminate them in any way. The residents of Minamata took them to trial, and finally won their case on March 20, 1973.
As of 1992, the number of people officially diagnosed with Minamata Disease was 2,252 people; 1,043 of them had died. Another 12,127 people were waiting to be tested. As recently as, March of 1997, there were 1,968 people waiting for their test results.
Efforts were made to clean up Minamata Bay. In 1974 a 1.3 mile-long net was placed around Minamata Bay to prevent contaminated fish from escaping. In October of 1998, Minamata Bay was declared safe again, after 53 years of being deadly waters. Plans are being made to remove the nets within the next few weeks, and Chisso Corporation has made their final payments. As for the cats of Minamata, a statue was erected to honor the cats that played a significant role in finding the cause of the "Strange Disease."
Sources:
Smith; W. Eugene and Aileen M. - Minamata - (An Alskog-Sensorium Book) Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York © 1975
Chemical Cycles in the Biosphere - Bill Stonebarger - Hawkhill Associates, Inc. 125 East Gilman St., Madison WI 53703 (19:00 minutes) © 1994
U.S. News 08/11/97: A Bay, and People Safe Again http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/970811/11wrbr.htm
Mercury Poisoning: The Legacy of Minamata, Japan http://www.essential.org/orgs/cchw/ehm/mar97.html
MINAMATA Tokyo Exposition (Tomoko's Picture) http://www.tama.or.jp/~sena/minamata/tokyoten/ehome.html
© Sandra L. Justus, 1998. All Rights Reserved.
a. Crisco Corporation
b. Crystal Corporation
c. Chisso Corporation
d. Campbell Corporation
2. What is Chisso the Japanese word for?
a. cooking oil
b. plastic
c. nitrogen
d. oxygen
3. What was the first warning sign that something was wrong in Minamata?
a. people lost their jobs
b. humans were becoming sick
c. cats started dancing
d. the fish population started to decline
4. What bizarre thing did the children see while they were playing?
a. birds swimming and diving
b. cats singing and dancing
c. fish floating and singing
d. cats throwing themselves into the sea
5. What were the children able to catch with their bare hands?
a. octopus and cuttlefish
b. cats and birds
c. octopus and fish
d. pigs and dogs
6. Who was the first victim of the strange disease?
a. a 10 year old boy
b. a 5 year and 11 month, girl
c. a 10 year old girl
d. a 5 year and 11 month, boy
7. What did they feed the healthy cats they brought into Minamata?
a. cat food from Chisso Corp.
b. mice from Minamata
c. fish from Minamata Bay
d. vitamins from Chisso Corp.
8. What was the cause of the strange disease that was spreading through Minamata?
a. mercury
b. iron
c. lead
d. plastic
9. What was the date that the patients' won their court case against Chisso Corporation?
a. January 20, 1973
b. March 20, 1973
c. February 20, 1973
d. April 20,1973
10. What are the three names given to the poisoning that occurred in Minamata?
a. _________________________________
b. _________________________________
c. _________________________________
11. What genre is this story?
a. Fiction
b. Non-Fiction
c. Realistic Fiction
d. Science Fiction
12. What is Bioaccumilation?
a. when a poisonous chemical builds up with in the body of a living thing
b. when trash builds up on the earth
c. when you take a lot of Biology classes
d. when poison spreads through a food chain
13. What is Biomagnification?
a. when a poisonous chemical builds up with in the body of a living thing
b. when you look at living things through a magnifying glass
c. when poison spreads through a food chain
d. a picture of the Earth taken from a satellite in space
14. What is Minamata Disease?
a. a mini (little) disease
b. a disease that only cats get
c. lead poisoning
d. mercury poisoning
15. What part of the body does mercury-poisoning affect the most?
a. heart
b. liver
c. brain
d. lungs
16. Minamata Disease is _______________.
a. contagious
b. really poisoning
c. really not a disease
d. b and c only
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