Official “Me thy l Mercury Contaminatio n Te sting” in

Taij i, Wakayama Prefecture

Biz arre Exa mina tion s Un derta ken in “Wha le

To w n ”

Taij i, Wakay ama Prefecture, one of Japan’s mos t

prominent w haling bases.
The high lev el’s of mercury detected upo n examinatio n
of residents’ hair was reported in our June editio n las t
yea r.
And while ge neral checkups have subseque ntly bee n
under take n by the government, the checkups
the mselves are questionable. Is there really no
possibility o f Minamata disease ?

Writer: Hiroshi Hasegawa

Upon visiting a community center and asking an elderly person

whether they had had a health checkup, they lashed out in a big
voice and stated: “I know everyone. There isn’t anyone around
here with that sickness.”

Is Minamata disease (methyl mercury poising from seafood)

occurring in one of Japan’s coastal whaling bases? While it
wouldn’t be strange for the average person to make a similar
claim to that at the start of this article, it would be impossible to
overlook if specialized agencies began acting in a manner that
even baffled researchers in the field.

This summer, the National Institute for Minamata Disease

(NIMD) which was established in Minamata city, Kumamoto
Prefecture in 1978 took hair samples from the local residents in
Taiji, a small town of 3530 (as of August) in the Higashimuro
district of Wakayama Prefecture to determine mercury levels
after consulting with the Ministry for the Environment. As of
mid-September when this was written more than 1000 hair
samples had been taken to NIMD where they were
analyzed. Hair samples are still being collected. This,
along with the health checkups to be mentioned later are the first
time that NIMD has targeted a specific area outside of the
Minamata region for such a large undertaking.

Highly Contaminated To othed Whales

NIMD has refused to clearly state any figures regarding mercury

levels as the hair sample testing is still in progress. However,
according to an official in Taiji it would appear that there are a
significant number of people with mercury levels exceeding
50ppm. Not only does this figure clearly surpass average mercury
levels of 2.5pmm for Japanese males and 1.6ppm for Japanese
females established during nationwide hair mercury level tests
undertaken by NIMD between 1999 and 2003, but is also greatly
exceeds levels warned to be dangerous by international institutes
and researchers around the globe.

In response to this, NIMD lined up male results from the

aforementioned nationwide test from high mercury levels down
and took the figure representing 5% from the top, 7.2ppm as a
rough indication before voluntary examination of around 150
Taiji residents who exceeded this level either at Taiji, or if
possible they were taken to Minamata city for a 3 night stay.
Those examined were “not found to have methyl mercury
poisoning”, ruling out Minamata disease. However, through
possible intentional error or plain negligence, the examination
itself was outside standard neurologically based testing
standards that take the brain deteriorating effects of methyl
mercury poisoning into account.
Before verifying this, let's first look at why it is that NIMD began
such large-scale testing.

At present in Japan the coastal whaling of certain dolphins and

other small toothed whales is undertaken in the 8 regions of
Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Chiba, Shizuoka, Wakayama,
and Okinawa under the authorization of the Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry, or the Governor. As small whales are
outside of the IWC’s jurisdiction, the Japanese government has
accomplished this by finding loopholes in regulations set by the
IWC who have banned the commercial whaling of baleen and
other large whales. Such whaling is not related to deep sea
“whaling surveys” of baleen and other whales for which Japan is
heavily criticized by the international community.

However, while baleen whales feed on organisms such as

plankton, fish-eating toothed whales are contaminated with
notable amounts of harmful substances due to ingestion of
methyl mercury that has built-up in sea fish.

As with the Minamata disease outbreaks of the 1950's and 60's

along the Shiranui coast in Kumamoto Prefecture which resulted
in the hospitalization and, in some cases, death of many, Nigata
Minamata disease outbreaks downstream of the Agano river also
occurred when residents ate seafood that had been contaminated
by the methyl mercury contained in wastewater from a certain
factory.

Due to such happenings, some residents in Tiaji expressed their

concerns about the regular intake of toothed whales. With the
help of such residents Aera took a small number of hair samples,
from only 8 residents to be exact, along with meat from several
species of toothed whales sold in the region to NIMD for methyl
mercury level analysis in May last year.

The result, total mercury levels (90% of total mercury is methyl

mercury) of the hair samples ranged from 3.60ppm to 86.30ppm,
showing that all samples exceed average male and female
mercury levels established by the aforementioned nationwide
testing, in some cases extremely. Additionally, the total mercury
level of toothed whale meat was a staggering 3.08 to 161.50 times
the provisional regulation of “0.4ppm” set by the Ministry of
Health and Welfare in 1973 regarding total mercury levels in
seafood.

Diagnosis witho ut F undame ntal Te sting

Upon publishing of these facts in the June 16th edition of Aera

last year, NIMD and the Taiji authorities engaged in a year long
process of discussions and preparations, finally deciding to carry
out hair sample tests on as many residents as possible, and to
also carry out health checks on those who exceeded a certain level
of mercury. 2 to 4 NIMD workers resided in Taiji and gathered
hair samples by taking advantage of general health checks and
other examinations.

Considering the international shame brought on Japan by the

original political and governmental neglect of Minamata disease,
the above measures taken by NIMD and the Taiji authorities
were on the verge of being praised by medical specialists with an
interest in Minamata disease. However, during this process the
following bizarre happening occurred.

These facts came to light during a visit to NIMD.

It happened during a wide ranging Q&A session at NIMD at

which Director General Koji Okamoto, Head of Basic Medical
Sciences Masanori Sasaki, Chemical Lab Head Akira Yasutake,
and Head of Clinical Medicine Masaaki Nakamura, who is a
doctor and professor of clinical medicine at Kumamoto University
and the sole overseer of the residents’ examinations, were all
present.
Journalist “Did you undertake a two-point discrimination test?”
Nakamura “We don’t…undertake that kind of examination.”
Journalist “Did you test to see if patients could discriminate, for
example, (3-dimentional) objects with a cross-section such as a
triangle or hexagon by touching them?”
Nakamura “...No...”

All those seated appeared to become tense.

Dr. Nakamura continued on with following explanation,
“We examined all standard and fundamental neurological
symptoms, including all items necessary for Minamata disease
certification.”

However, there was no explanation given as to why the tests in

question were not carried out.

The two-point discrimination test, where both ends of a 2 pointed

compass-like instrument are pressed simultaneously against the
fingertip and the distance narrowed to see how well the 2 points
can be distinguished, and stereognosis testing, which involves
closing your eyes and touching objects with a cross-section such
as triangles and hexagons to see if they can be distinguished from
one another, are both required tests when examining and
diagnosing Minamata disease, as most pathology and clinical
testing have established that methyl mercury related brain
damage centered on the sensory cortex brings about a
disturbance of sensation throughout the body. Indeed, such tests
are considered by the international neurological science
community to be standard medical procedure when diagnosing
neurological disorders that are not related to Minamata disease.

Adamant Minamata Disease De signation Standards

For example, the widely used "Adams and Victor's Principles of

Neurology" which was originally published in 1977 by
McGraw-Hill and is now available in its 9th revision has a
subsection “Two-Point Discrimination” on page 137 that shows
how a blunt compass is used to carry out a painless two-point
discrimination test, stating “Mistaking 2 points as 1 point is a
characteristic of patients who have a damaged sensory cortex.”

Those with Minamata disease suffer a wide range of both light

and severe ailments depending on the degree to which certain
brain cells were damaged by methyl mercury poising, with
patients sometimes unable to recognize their own symptoms.

However, initial Japanese research into Minamata disease was

also influenced by a 1940 English paper in which rats were
administered methyl mercury to determine peripheral nerve
damage. Although the author of this paper later explained that
no peripheral nerve damage is incurred by humans, something
that both internal and external researchers supported, the
standard for Minamata disease designation “Criteria for
Differentiation of Acquired Minamata Disease” set by the
Environment Agency in 1977 continued to be affected by the
assumption of peripheral nerve damage, adamantly denying
research results that state Minamata disease causes brain
damage. Symptoms that suggest damage to the brain were
therefore not designated as Minamata disease.

Concerns over “Fe tal Minamata Disease”

And now, NIMD, an offshoot of the Ministry for the Environment,

has not carried out two-point discrimination tests which would
clearly determine damage to the cerebral cortex when examining
residents of Taiji whose hair samples showed high levels of
mercury. Professor Shigeo Ekino of the Faculty of Medical and
Pharmaceutical Sciences at Kumamoto University, who has
examined and researched Minamata disease patients on
Goshoura Island in Amakusa city, Wakayama Prefecture for
many years and published a paper in an influential foreign
magazine stating that Minamata disease is the result of brain
damage, states that “the situation in Taiji is an unparallel chance
for Japan to contribute to the world by establishing what effect
mercury pollution of deep sea dolphins and fish is having on the
human body, so I want it to be scientifically investigated. This is
an important research topic for Japanese who live on a diet of
fish.”

Amongst these concerns, the most worrying development is the

danger that fetal Minamata disease may occur if methyl mercury
ingested by the mother is passed to the fetus through the
placenta, and accumulated. NIMD appeals about this in its
publication “Mercury & Health” in the following way.

“Methyl mercury poisoning in the womb causes brain

paralyses and mental disorders.”

“Methyl mercury (abbreviated) easily passes through the

placenta (abbreviated), a report made by WHO in 1990 states
that there is a 5% chance the fetus will develop a disorder if
the mother’s hair mercury level is 10 to 20ppm, while a 2003
gathering of international experts on food additives states that
fetuses may be affected slightly at 14ppm (mother’s hair
mercury level).”

Although it hasn’t been announced whether any of the Taiji

residents with high hair mercury levels are pregnant, or may be
suffering the above mentioned problem, shouldn't people,
especially pregnant woman, in the other 7 toothed whaling bases
who face a potentially similar situation to Taiji be promptly
alerted to the dangers and switched to a low mercury diet even if
the hair testing is still being undertaken?

The Minis try for the E nvironme nt can’t be Tr usted

According to the same NIMD publication, WHO released a report

in 1990 that sets 50ppm as the highest hair mercury level at
which no neurological symptoms occurs. However, according to a
joint paper published in 1998 by a 7 member research team led
by Canadian Jean Lebel, central nervous system damage begins
at hair mercury levels of around 15 to 25ppm.

And even if hair levels drop by not ingesting methyl mercury, it

would appear that once the brain has been damaged by poisoning
it will never return to its original state. This fact in itself points
to the existence of a large number of potentially affected people.

Judging from the unscientific examinations that continue to be

carried out, I am inclined to believe that the Ministry for the
Environment should not be trusted to handle the mercury
problem faced by coastal whaling bases such as Taiji. I don’t
believe that anything will be solved until the central government
confronts the problem head-on from an independent standpoint.

Cover
Education Special: higher education as seen by the mothers of
Tokyo University graduates

Exclusive: Won Bin “first movie in 5 years”

26/10/2009
No.51 ¥380
AERA

Photo caption for page 1

This manmade whale’s tale in a square near the arrival and
departure wharf for sightseeing boats catches the eye. A
decommissioned whaling boat can be seen in the background.
Caption for photo on 2nd page
There is even a “Whale Memorial Stone” in the whaling town of
Taiji. Many people involved in fishing related and other jobs
gather here for actual memorial services. Photo taken April 29th
2009.

Map on 2nd page

(Bottom right) Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture
(Middle) Pacific Ocean
(Left) Minamata city, Kumamoto Prefecture