It is not the first time that the Japanese have done this kind of faceless thing by discharging the toxic sewage generated by the production process of the enterprise directly into the sea.
The Minamata disease outbreak in Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, in the 1950s and 1960s was a typical tragedy caused by the direct discharge of toxic sewage.
The location of Minamata City is surrounded by the sea
The culprit of the tragedy is the Japanese Suffocating Fertilizer Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the Suffocating Company), which was founded in 1906. In 1908, the Suffocating Company began to set up a factory in Minamata.
In the beginning, the factory only produced fertilizer. The so-called suffocation is the meaning of nitrogen fertilizer. Later, due to the huge demand for chemical products, the suffocating company began to transform into the production of various chemical products, but the production wastewater was always discharged directly into the waters near Minamata.
Suffocateo's factory in Minamata City
Fishing in minamata waters was decreasing, and local fishermen protested twice in 1926 and 1943, and the suffocating company simply lost some money and continued to discharge sewage into the sea. After the local fishermen took some compensation, they stopped making trouble, but they never expected that the disaster was still to come.
As early as 1932, the suffocating company began to produce acetaldehyde. In the early years, the production process was backward, and the production of acetaldehyde required the use of mercury sulfate as a catalyst. During the production process, a small amount of mercury sulfate will undergo chemical changes to become highly toxic methylmercury. Methylmercury, on the other hand, is mixed with wastewater discharged by the suffocating company and flows directly into the Minamata Sea.
At first, the production of acetaldehyde by the suffocatin company was low, at only 210 tons per year, and methylmercury was only 5% of the wastewater discharged, and the harm was not obvious. But by the 1950s, the company's annual production of acetaldehyde reached 6,000 tons, and in the 1960s it reached a record 45,245 tons.
In the early 1950s, when acetaldehyde production was soaring, a series of strange things began to happen in Minamata. It was first observed that the production of fish in the sea fell off a cliff. The surface of Minamata Bay is full of dead fish, and the shellfish caught are often dead and smelly.
Next, it was discovered that many cats began to walk badly, bouncing and dancing like dancing, and these strange cats often fell down as soon as they stumbled after wandering to the cliffs by the sea. In a year, more than 50,000 cats jumped into the sea. And the seabirds near Minamata Bay often fly and fly and rush to the ground and fall to their deaths.
It wasn't long before nightmares began to descend upon humans. On April 21, 1956, a 5-year-old girl fell ill and convulsed, unable to walk normally and speak normally. Two days later, her sister developed the same symptoms. Immediately afterward, 8 more people were taken to the local hospital with the same symptoms as the sisters.
The local hospital was helpless and had to report to the local public health department that an epidemic of unknown cause had been found in the Minamata area. The government named this unknown disease Minamata disease.
Initially, the local government considered Minamata to be an infectious disease, so the patient was isolated and the patient's home was disinfected. However, this method did not work, and more and more people were infected.
The disease begins to feel some paralysis in the hands and feet before the onset of the disease, and then the paralysis becomes more and more severe, and the walk begins to stumble. Next, they can't control the tone of their speech and grab small objects. Hearing begins to be lost gradually, and it becomes increasingly difficult to swallow food. Until severe convulsions, coma, or even death occur.
Minamata patients hands and protesters
Unable to control the minamata epidemic, the local government turned to Kumamoto University for help. After investigation, the research team at Kumamoto University found that the patients were from local fishermen's families, and they also learned about abnormal events such as cat jumping into the sea and birds falling to their deaths. Patients, cats and seabirds eat locally produced seafood such as shellfish and fish.
The team eventually determined that Minamata was actually methylmercury poisoning, and that the patients were born by eating seafood containing methylmercury. As soon as the conclusion came out, everyone turned their attention to the suffocating company. However, the suffocating company has not recognized it, insisting that it is impossible for its sewage to contain methylmercury.
In order to deal with the patients and families of the protesters, the method adopted by the suffocating company is very vicious. On the one hand, they preach everywhere, falsely claiming that Minamata disease is an infectious disease, and that the victims are deliberately wronging the suffocating company in order to extort money.
Minamata patients and protesters
On the other hand, suffocation companies employ triad members, threaten violence and even beat protesters, even journalists who speak for protesters.
An American journalist, Eugene Smith, who reported on the tragic experiences of Minamata patients and their families, took a famous photo, "Yuko Uemura Bathing," which reflected the scene of a Minamata patient's mother bathing her child, which caused resentment from the suffocation company. The Suffocation Company instructed members of the underworld to attack Eugene Smith, causing him to be seriously injured and blinded in one eye.
Yuko Uemura Bathing
The local government has also been inactive, allowing them to continue production and discharge toxic waste liquids on the pretext that there is no direct evidence that methylmercury pollution is caused by suffocation companies. The Kumamoto prefectural government has done nothing but ban the sale of seafood from Minamata Bay. They didn't even ask the suffocating company for compensation, and Minamata disease continued to spread locally.
The victims are not only adults, children, but even fetuses. Their mother was poisoned with methylbenzene after pregnancy, and the toxin was absorbed by the fetus through the placenta. During the years when Minamata disease spread, many locally born children became cerebral palsy at birth.
A Minamata patient and his mother
Due to technical constraints, the Kumamoto University investigation team has been unable to find evidence of methylmercury emissions by suffocating companies. It wasn't until 1963, when the team used new chemical tests, that it was finally confirmed that the wastewater discharged by Suffocation contained large amounts of methylmercury.
Even so, the suffocating company, as well as the local government, has refused to acknowledge the findings. It was not until September 6, 1968, that the Japanese government announced that Minamata disease was caused by wastewater containing methylmercury discharged by the Suffocation Company. At this time, a full 12 years have passed since the first detection of Minamata disease began. It has been 36 years since 1932, when Sufflerium first produced acetaldehyde to emit methylmercury.
Minamata disease patients who have lost the ability to live
At this time, the suffocating company had found a new catalyst that did not require the use of mercury sulfate in production, and would not emit methylmercury. They make a lot of money, but they sacrifice the health of an entire generation of local people.
The outbreak of Minamata disease is essentially the result of some large Japanese companies harming the health of others in order to make a profit, while the Japanese government only cares about economic interests and indulges in indulgence. Will they learn their lessons? No, judging by some recent events, they are still the same, harming the environment and the whole world in order to earn money, even their own people.