According to the Asahi Shimbun,
On the afternoon of April 18,
Niigata District Court against Minamata disease victims
Compensation lawsuits brought against the state and cause enterprises
Conduct judgments,
Order the former "Showa Denko" of the relevant company to compensate,
The total amount is about 100 million yen (about 4.69 million yuan),
However, the request for compensation from the Japanese government was rejected.
In the fifties and sixties of the last century, many residents in Minamata City in Kumamoto Prefecture and the Agano River basin area in Niigata Prefecture suffered from mercury poisoning, which is known as Minamata disease, due to the perennial discharge of mercury-containing wastewater into local rivers by chemical companies.
Minamata disease is recognized as one of the world's major environmental hazards in the 20th century, and the Japanese government has identified about 3,000 patients. The infected person's limbs twisted and convulsed, and his death was very tragic.
The victim residents have filed a class action lawsuit against the Japanese government
Previously, 144 residents in Kumamoto Prefecture and Kagoshima Prefecture demanded compensation of 4.5 million yen from each of them for failing to receive relief under the Law on Special Measures for the Relief of Minamata Disease Victims.
On March 22, the Kumamoto District Court rejected the claims filed by 144 residents in Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures.
On April 4, 144 residents of Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures appealed to the Fukuoka High Court against the Kumamoto District Court's March 22 decision.
Similar class action lawsuits have occurred in Tokyo, Osaka, and Niigata, and this is the second judgment. In September 2023, the Osaka District Court ruled that all 128 plaintiffs were suffering from Minamata disease and ordered the state and others to pay compensation of 2.75 million yen each.
One of the world's major environmental pollution events in the 20th century
Minamata City is located in southern Japan, and its inhabitants mainly make a living from fishing and drying salt.
However, in the fifties of the twentieth century, the peaceful life of the small town was broken. Anomalies have been observed in the local area one after another. First, fish and shellfish died in large numbers, then domestic animals such as cats and dogs went crazy, and a large number of infected cats even "committed suicide by jumping into the sea". It wasn't long before the inhabitants began to fall ill, and the infected person's limbs twisted and convulsed, and the death was very tragic.
According to public information, a local chemical company discharged a large amount of untreated mercury-containing wastewater into rivers and seas, and the harmful substances were enriched in the bodies of fish and shrimp and then consumed by humans, causing illness. After the cause was identified, the local government and the company involved once concealed and refused to admit the relevant acts for economic reasons, and the harmful wastewater continued to be discharged for more than ten years.
Minamata disease is recognized as one of the world's major environmental hazards in the 20th century, with about 3,000 people diagnosed by the Japanese government.
In 1974, a report by the Faculty of Medicine of Japan's National University showed that the cause of the illness among residents of Minamata City was the consumption of seafood containing excessive amounts of mercury. The chemical plant of the Japanese company Cho Su discharged a large amount of wastewater containing high concentrations of mercury in Minamata Bay.
On 19 January 2013, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Mercury, convened under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme, adopted the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a proposal for the Minamata Convention on Mercury, submitted by representatives of the Government of Japan. It is also the world's first legally binding convention on highly toxic metallic mercury, named after the worst mercury poisoning incident in history.
Led by Japan's Foreign Minister Kishida, representatives of 128 countries around the world signed the Minamata Convention, which entered into force on August 16, 2017.
The lessons of Minamata disease have not gone far:
Japan will launch the fifth round of nuclear pollution discharge into the sea on the 19th
On August 24, 2023, the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) forcibly started the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the sea, despite opposition from all walks of life.
On August 31, 2023, Japan's Minamata Disease Victims Group issued a statement calling for an immediate halt to the discharge of nuclear contaminated water from Fukushima into the sea to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.
According to Japan's "Mainichi Shimbun" report, the Minamata disease victim groups in Kumamoto Prefecture and Niigata Prefecture held a press conference in Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture on the same day, and the victims warned based on their own experiences that Japanese society should not ignore the possible health risks caused by the discharge of nuclear contaminated water from Fukushima into the sea, and should immediately stop the discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea.
Koichiro Matsunaga, a Minamata disease patient who attended the news conference, said that the Japanese government "has not learned the lessons of Minamata disease at all."
However, on April 17, Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that the fifth round of discharge of nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, that is, the first round of discharge into the sea in fiscal year 2024 (April 2024 to March 2025), will start on the morning of the 19th local time and is expected to last until May 7.
According to information released by TEPCO in January this year, about 54,600 tons of nuclear-contaminated water will be discharged in seven installments in fiscal 2024.
In response, the Japanese people sued the Japanese government and TEPCO, demanding that the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea be stopped.
More than 360 plaintiffs have joined Japan's largest group of plaintiffs to stop the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, and they are demanding an immediate end to this kind of behavior, which is harmful to the global marine environment and human health.