What is the main pollutant in Minamata?

What is the main pollutant in Minamata?

In southern Japan, the city of Minamata commemorated on Monday the mercury pollution that contaminated thousands of people 50 years ago. More than 70 years after the beginning of the pollution, all the effects of this pollution are not yet resolved.

What is the cause of Minamata disease?

VS’is at the end of the 1950s, following an accidental pollution of the Sea of ​​Japan, which were described under the name of minamata syndromethe neurotoxic effects of methylmercury on pre- and postnatal development, following the consumption by pregnant women of contaminated fish.

What is the Minamata disaster?

From 19, a petrochemical plant of the company Shin Nippon Chisso discharged heavy metals, in particular mercury, in the bay of Minamata, in Japan. The mercury, ingested by the fish in the bay, ended up on the plates of the inhabitants.

What is mercury disease called?

These activities have generated diseases easily identifiable professionals. poisoning by mercury is called hydrargyrism or hydrargyrism, characterized by lesions of the nerve centers resulting in tremors, speech difficulties, psychic disorders…

What are the effects of mercury on the human body?

the mercury elemental and methyl mercury are toxic to the central and peripheral nervous systems. Inhalation of vapors mercury may have effects harmful to the nervous, digestive and immune systems, and to the lungs and kidneys, and can be fatal.

Which metal was abandoned in favor of copper because it caused lead poisoning?

We can assume that as metal particularly malleable and easy to melt, lead was used to make jewelry worn directly on the skin, which must have been particular factors of lead poisoning (the first lead neck collar is 60 years old.

What are the symptoms of lead poisoning?

The first ones symptoms of lead poisoning can go unnoticed and are non-specific:

• Fatigue,
• Headache,
• Stomach pain, loss of appetite, constipation, nausea and vomiting,
• Lack of attention, nervousness, sleep disturbances,
• Pallor related to anemia.

What is the origin of Minamata disease?

The historical origin of Minamata disease. In 1907, the founder of the Chisso company, Jun Noguchi, set up a petrochemical plant in Minamata, in the southwest of Japan. The workforce is mainly local, but the senior executives come from the highest Japanese universities.

What is Minamata Syndrome?

But in 1908 built a Chisso Minamata concern on the bay near the village chemical plant, producing fertilizer. Since then began the terrible history of the disease, which was included in all Japanese medical textbooks called Minamata syndrome.

Why is the world discovering Minamata disease?

This is the first article on the subject published in the international medical literature: the world discovers the “Minamata disease”, named after the city enlisted without its knowledge in a kind of vast experiment which will make several tens of thousands of victims – the figure is hotly debated and lawsuits are still ongoing.

What are the causes and consequences of the Minamata disaster?

The facts, the causes, as well as the human, economic and social consequences of this catastrophe were described and analyzed by Noriaki Tsuchimoto in the film Minamata, which he directed in 1971. Methylmercury, ingested by fish and shellfish, will concentrate in the tissues of these animals.