I'm posting two items from ProMED on Minimata disease, which has
been showing up in Amazon Brazil. The first (this one) is an
historical commentary on the disease. The second (sent separately)
includes some interesting systems perspectives on food and
agriculture in relationship to the disease in Brazil.
Those of us over a certain age are likely to remember media coverage
of the Japanese victims of this disease in the 60s. I was still very
small, but that made a deep impact on me, growing up amidst the
refineries. Here is a CNews/AP piece from July, 1998, on the
enduring legacy at Minimata:
http://www.freecartoons.com/CNEWSFeaturesArchive/jul17_minimata.html
I was disturbed to read of the Brazilian outbreak...and wanted to
share this when I read the posting by Dr. Donna Mergler (U. of
Quebec) that includes a food systems perspective.
peace
misha
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MINAMATA DISEASE - BRAZIL (AMAZON) (03)
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A ProMED-mail post
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 13:03:20 -0800
From: EDWIN LENNETTE MD
How true the old adage: 'he who fails to read history is doomed to
repeat it'.
Minamata Disease first raised its dreadful head in early 1956 when a
5-year old girl was admitted to the Chisso Company Hospital in
Minamata with a strange, unfathomable illness afflicting the central
nervous system. Several other cases of this "Strange Disease", so
labeled by the populace followed. Numerous other cases appeared in all
age groups, and the bizarre symptoms so stigmatized sufferers that
they were avoided by neighbors and the public in general and treated
like lepers of biblical times. The cause was eventually traced to the
Chisso Company, originally a producer of carbides and fertilizers
(whence the name: Chisso means 'nitrogen' in Japanese). Cats, too,
were afflicted, showing strange behavior, whirling in circles; those
falling off a sea wall and drowning were labeled "suicides"! Dogs and
pigs were also affected.
When Chisso became a manufacturer of petrochemicals, one of its
products was acetaldehyde, used to make a variety of plastics and
drugs. To produce acetaldehyde, a catalyst is needed and mercury, as
organic mercury (methyl mercury), met the need; the effluent was
dumped into Minamata Bay. By some accounts, around 200,000 tons of
methyl mercury were dumped into the Bay, producing a sludge on the
bottom. Victims chronically exposed to the environmental mercury
showed high levels of mercury in their hair (up 200 ppm). Fish, the
dietary staple, were similarly poisoned.
Steven Rose, writing in the New Scientist states in "Notes from
Minamata" (1978, 80: 628-629 Nov. 23) that there were more than 8,100
persons on the register of victims, with 10 or more being added each
month. A comprehensive account of this episode, with numerous
photographs, is given in the book by W. Eugene Smith and his wife,
Aileen M.Smith MINAMATA. The story of the poisoning of a city and of
the people who chose to carry the burden of courage. 1975. Holt,
Rinehart and Winston. New York. The book also carries Minamata
Disease: A Medical Report by Masazumi Harada, an authority on the
disease. This would appear to be the same Dr. Harada who conducted the
current study in Brazil and played such an important role in the
Minamata disaster.
- --
Edwin Lennette, MD
e-mail: LENNETTE@phi.org
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Michele Gale-Sinex, communications manager
Center for Integrated Ag Systems
UW-Madison College of Ag and Life Sciences
Voice: (608) 262-8018 FAX: (608) 265-3020
http://www.wisc.edu/cias/
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would look for yours on earth. --Bob Marley
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