Minamata Disease

Presenter: VANESSA S. RESUELLO

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Minamata, Japan
• A city located in Kumamoto Prefecture,
on the west coast of Kyushu and faces
Yatsushiro/Shiranui Sea
• 1889: Established as a village
• 1912: re-designated as town
• 1949: Grew into a city
• 1956: Minamata Disease was discovered

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Minamata Disease (Chisso-Minamata Disease)
Ataxia is a neurological
• a neurological disease caused by severe mercury sign consisting of lack of
poisoning. voluntary coordination of
muscle movements that can
include speech changes, and
Signs and symptoms include abnormalities in eye
• ataxia, movements.
• numbness in the hands and feet, A clinical manifestation
• general muscle weakness indicating dysfunction of the
• loss of peripheral vision parts of the nervous
• damage to hearing and speech system that coordinate
movement, such as
• In extreme cases, the cerebellum.
• insanity,
• paralysis, Ataxia can be limited to one
• coma, side of the body, which is
referred to as hemiataxia.
• death follow within weeks of the onset of symptoms.
• A congenital form of the disease can also
affect fetuses in the womb.
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Mercury Poisoning
• refers to a toxicity from mercury consumption

Mercury poisoning from fish

Methylmercury (organic mercury) poisoning is largely linked to

eating seafood, mainly fish. Toxicity from fish has two causes: The following are okay to
eat once or twice per
• eating certain types of mercury-containing fish (Sharks and week:
swordfish are among the most common of these. Bigeye tuna, • albacore tuna
marlin, and king mackerel also contain high levels of mercury) • anchovies
• catfish
• eating too much fish. • grouper
• pollock
• Other causes • salmon
• broken fever thermometers • shrimp
• “silver” dental fillings • snapper
• certain types of jewelry
• mining for gold, and household gold extraction
• skin care products (Those made in the United States don’t usually contain
mercury.)
• exposure to toxic air in industrialized communities
• CFL bulb breakage
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Minamata Disaster
Chisso Corporation
A predominant company with advanced
technologies in Japan in 1950s-1960s

Methylmercury
Generated as by-product in reaction
chambers for manufacturing
acetaldehyde that was synthesized by a
hydrolysis of acetyline using mercury as
catalyst
Pollution and Poisoning
Methylmercury, after discharging into the
sea, accumulated in the fish and shellfish
by the absorption through the gills or
digestive tracts

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Chisso Corporation

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Chisso
Corporation

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Events
YEAR EVENTS

1956 The first documented case was reported: a girl of 5 years in town was
found to have neurological symptoms. She had convulsions and difficulty
in walking and speaking

Officially reported with other 3 cases including her sister in May 1, 1956

Research teams were organized in Kumamoto University School of

medicine and later in the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHW)
Epidemiological studies
• Found 55 cases, with 17 deaths
• Indicated that disease was closely associated with consumption of fish
and shellfish
• Suggested that it might be a kind of heavy metal poisoning
1957 Kumamoto Prefecture government recommended not eating marine
products caught from Minamata Bay; did not prohibit.

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Events
YEAR EVENTS

1958 New patients continued to be found

Minamata fishermen’s cooperative claimed compensation for damages

Chisso intended to increase acetaldehyde production – much demand as

a raw material of octanol, a chemical used in polyvinyl chloride
manufacturing
Chisso engineers assumed: dilution of toxic chemicals with the large
amount of seawater

Chisso changed the acetaldehyde drainage channel from waste outfall in

Minamata Bay to the mouth of Minamata River in Sept. 1958
1959 Patients began to appear around Minamata river mouth in addition to
Minamata Bay and neighboring areas
Research group of Kumamoto University presented the organic mercury
hypothesis for the etiology of Minamata disease. 2,000 ppm of mercury at
the waste outfall 9
Chisso’s Arguments
1. The factory has been using mercury as a catalyst
since 1930s w/o the appearance of the disease
2. Minamata disease has never been reported
elsewhere in other plants using mercury
3. Experiments using cats indicated that toxic agent
can’t be extracted from poisonous fish
4. Research group was unreliable

Other unstated facts

1. Possible formation of methylmercury during the

course of chemical reaction
2. Production of acetaldehyde increased substantially
in the 1950s
3. Neurological signs resembling Minamata disease
had been induced in the cats at the Chisso
laboratory after the ingestion of fish, shellfish, and
diet mixed with liquid obtained from the waste
liquid obtained from the acetaldehyde process of
the factory 10
Events
YEAR EVENTS

1959 Fishermen’s association’s demands to Chisso:

• Compensate the fishing industry
• Establish a waste liquid processing facility
• Cease waste liquid drainage
In November, the Sanitation Investigation Committee of MHW presented
the conclusion: Minamata disease was a kind of organic mercury poisoning
induced by the intake of polluted fish and shellfish caught in Minamata Bay

Nov.13 Cabinet meeting, MWH argued that it would be hasty to conclude that
organic mercury had been discharged from the factory.
In December,
• Chisso signed an agreement with fishermen’s associations on fishery
compensation
• Held a ceremony celebrating the completion of “Cyclator”, a waste
liquid processor
• Agreement with patient’s association of 75 patients, to pay an annuity
of 100,000 yen as consolation money, as token of sympathy, and not as
compensation for any damage. (contract states that payments would cease
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if Chisso was found not to be the cause)
Events
YEAR EVENTS

1960 Further investigation was left to the new council, which drawn no
conclusion on the cause of the disease. They gave the impression that
methylmercury was only one among several different hypotheses and that
the cause of the disease had yet to be elucidated.
Chisso increased the production of Acetaldehyde, and methylmercury
pollution of the sea continued, resulting in increase of patients, who were
also discriminated and oppressed in the local community
1965 Second Minamata Disease epidemic: In January, patients of
methylmercury poisoning were found along the basin of the Agano River
in Niigata Prefecture.

Government Measures:
• Medical exam involving hair mercury survey of 50 ppm on the
inhabitants
• Contraception was recommended for women who had hair mercury
levels to avoid fetal cases
• Factory located on the upper Agano River, which had been
synthesizing acetaldehyde was suspected 12
 Conclusion

Basic Law for Environmental Pollution and Control

Established in 1967, because air and water pollution had become a serious problem as negative consequence of
the rapid growth of heavy and chemical industries.
Central Gov’t recognized that identifying the cause might help to settle the problems
To determine whether Minamata disease was associated with environmental pollution that was under jurisdiction
of Law.
September 1968: government presented a collective view on 2 epidemics of Minamata disease that causative
agent in Kumamoto was methylmercury from Chisso Minamata factory, and that in Niigata was from Showa
Denko’s Kanose Factory. (After 12 years)
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The Present Issues
• A memorial service in Minamata Disease
Municipal Museum on May 1, 2006 to mark
50 years.
• Lawsuits against Chisso and the
government are still continuing
• Most congenital patients are now in their
40s and 50s with deteriorating health

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References
• https://www.med.or.jp/english/pdf/2006_03/112_118.pdf
• https://www.healthline.com/health/mercury-poisoning
• https://www.chisso.co.jp/english/company/index.html

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THANK YOU

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