Has Japan Learned the Lessons of Past Pollution Crises?
Japan’s Four Postwar Pollution Diseases Itai-itai disease was the name given to a collection of painful and debilitating symptoms that broke out among inhabitants of the Jinzū River basin in Toyama Prefecture not long after World War II. It was caused by exposure to cadmium, which Mitsui Mining and Smelting had been dumping into the river for decades, polluting the water used for drinking, cooking, and irrigating crops downstream. Long-term ingestion of the cadmium led to kidney damage, soft or brittle bones, and the intense shooting pains from which the condition got its name. Minamata disease was first identified among residents of Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, in 1956. The cause was severe mercury poisoning. An acetaldehyde plant operated by Chisso had been releasing wastewater contaminated with methylmercury into nearby waters since 1932, causing organic mercury to bioaccumulate in fish and shellfish that were later consumed by local inhabitants. The victims experienced numbness of the hands and feet, loss of peripheral vision, hearing loss, paralysis, convulsions, and, in quite a few cases, death. Furthermore, the afflicted and their families faced stigmatization and discrimination by the local community as Chisso evaded responsibility with the government’s complicity. In 1965, in the midst of this inaction, a second outbreak of Minamata disease occurred, this time in Niigata Prefecture. Once again, the culprit was mercury-contaminated wastewater from an acetaldehyde plant, this one operated by Shōwa Denkō in Kanose village along the Agano River. By 1966, the source of the pollution and the cause of the ailment were indisputable. Nonetheless, it was not until September 1968 that the Japanese government officially took the position that Minamata disease was a pollution-related illness caused by mercury discharged from the Chisso and Shōwa Denkō plants. Yokkaichi asthma was a general term for the epidemic of respiratory diseases and disorders that broke out in the city of Yokkaichi in Mie Prefecture beginning around 1960. The cause was air pollution from the Yokkaichi petrochemical complex. Almost immediately after the complex opened in 1959, cases of bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and other respiratory ailments rose sharply, as the refineries and chemical plants belched sulfurous smoke into the atmosphere.
Japan’s Four Postwar Pollution Diseases Itai-itai disease was the name given to a collection of painful and debilitating symptoms that broke out among inhabitants of the Jinzū River basin in Toyama Prefecture not long after World War II. It was caused by exposure to cadmium, which Mitsui Mining and Smelting had been dumping into the river for decades, polluting the water used for drinking, cooking, and irrigating crops downstream. Long-term ingestion of the cadmium led to kidney damage, soft or brittle bones, and the intense shooting pains from which the condition got its name. Minamata disease was first identified among residents of Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, in 1956. The cause was severe mercury poisoning. An acetaldehyde plant operated by Chisso had been releasing wastewater contaminated with methylmercury into nearby waters since 1932, causing organic mercury to bioaccumulate in fish and shellfish that were later consumed by local inhabitants. The victims experienced numbness of the hands and feet, loss of peripheral vision, hearing loss, paralysis, convulsions, and, in quite a few cases, death. Furthermore, the afflicted and their families faced stigmatization and discrimination by the local community as Chisso evaded responsibility with the government’s complicity. In 1965, in the midst of this inaction, a second outbreak of Minamata disease occurred, this time in Niigata Prefecture. Once again, the culprit was mercury-contaminated wastewater from an acetaldehyde plant, this one operated by Shōwa Denkō in Kanose village along the Agano River. By 1966, the source of the pollution and the cause of the ailment were indisputable. Nonetheless, it was not until September 1968 that the Japanese government officially took the position that Minamata disease was a pollution-related illness caused by mercury discharged from the Chisso and Shōwa Denkō plants. Yokkaichi asthma was a general term for the epidemic of respiratory diseases and disorders that broke out in the city of Yokkaichi in Mie Prefecture beginning around 1960. The cause was air pollution from the Yokkaichi petrochemical complex. Almost immediately after the complex opened in 1959, cases of bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and other respiratory ailments rose sharply, as the refineries and chemical plants belched sulfurous smoke into the atmosphere.