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A 10-year-old girl was admitted to a hospital in the Japanese town of Minamaty, who had seizures and difficulty walking and speaking. The doctors didn’t know what was wrong with her. Thus, in 1956, the Minamata disease epidemic, caused by the contamination of water with mercury, began.
- The mercury that poisoned the waters of Minamata Bay came from the wastewater of the Chisso Corporation. This is a company that dealt with the production of plastics. The poison accumulated in the organisms of the crabs and fish eaten by the inhabitants
- Nine patients came to the hospital with similar symptoms. They all had difficulty walking and speaking, and had seizures. As a result, the authorities declared an epidemic of an unknown disease
- Medics noticed an increase in the incidence of cerebral palsy in children born in nearby hospitals
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German media reported that a huge concentration of mercury has been detected in water samples taken from the Odra River. It is not known whether this substance is responsible for the catastrophe that befell the river on the Polish-German border. It was supposed to lead, inter alia, to the mass death of fish and other animals. The concentration of the substance was to be so high that it was decided to repeat the tests.
This is not the first time mercury has affected the environment. In 1956, mercury contamination occurred in the waters around Minamata — towns in the south of Japan. Overnight, people and animals began to develop a strange disease. In severe cases, victims fell into a coma and died within weeks.
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In April 1956, a 10-year-old girl was hospitalized with very mysterious symptoms. She had difficulty walking and speaking, and had seizures. Doctors didn’t know how to help her. Two days later her younger sister was brought to the facility with similar ailments. Their bodies flexed in pain and uncontrollable spasms.
After recording nine similar cases, the medics informed the authorities about an “epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system”. More and more residents reported cats that behaved strangely and had unnatural gaits, and birds that fell from the sky in flight. The seaweed disappeared from the seabed and the dead fish floated to the surface. A special research team was set up to determine what the disease was and what caused it.
Minamata disease – the course of the disease
The study of subsequent cases has established a general pattern of the development of Minamata disease in humans. Initially unfolds without warning. Patients initially complained of numbness in the limbs and loss of sensation. The sick were not able to grab small objects or fasten buttons, and they would stumble and fall while walking. The symptoms gradually worsened. They experienced convulsions and coma. Patients were dying.
The mortality rate was very high at first — in the order of 35 percent Though the doctors did not know the remedy, they noticed a set of the most common symptoms. And they are:
- lack of muscle coordination
- numbness in the hands and feet
- general muscle weakness
- loss of peripheral vision (it is responsible for seeing objects that are outside the center of the field of view)
- hearing and speech impairment
- paralysis, coma and death
The problem of the “second generation”
Medics from Minamata noticed a significant increase in the incidence of cerebral palsy in children born in nearby hospitals. Initially, this was not associated with a terrible disease. Their mothers did not get sick, and according to the state of knowledge at the time, the placenta was an impenetrable barrier for toxins. Years later it turned out exactly the opposite. The placenta “sucked” most of the mercury out of the mother’s blood and stored it in the developing body. Subsequent autopsies confirmed that many of the children suffered from congenital disease.
Minamata disease – the cause
Specialists carefully examined the patients, their families and their surroundings. It turned out that they all had a similar diet — rich in fish and shellfish from Minamata Bay. After examining the marine life, the truth emerged. It turned out that mercury was responsible for the epidemic, which reached some of the town’s inhabitants via sea organisms.
More detailed research revealed how and where the poison ended up in the water. The researchers found that the high levels of methylmercury were caused by the Chisso Corporation, a plastics manufacturing company, pouring wastewater out into the sea. The company paid out PLN 10. patients and their families over $ 86 million compensation.
Mercury – Why Is It So Dangerous for Man?
As the journalist and chemistry teacher Wojciech Orliński reminds on social media, mercury, which was discovered in the Odra River, is not the same as a substance known from home thermometers. The substance found in the river on the Polish-German border is most likely a very toxic, water-soluble Hg (II) cation.
«Some commentators breathe a sigh of relief that nothing dangerous, because the mercury will sink to the bottom and it will be easy to catch. It will not fall. It accumulates in fish and poisons water intakes for decades. The effects may be worse than that little radionuclide that fell on us from Chernobyl » — Orliński specifies.
As firefighters report, mercury is the most harmful in gaseous form, so it must not be heated and inhaled the vapors.
The mercury in the thermometer hardens and turns into silver balls when it hits the floor. To collect it, wear rubber gloves to protect the skin. As firefighters remind, you should not use a vacuum cleaner to collect mercury. The device can spray the substance into the air. Therefore, it is best to sweep mercury with a cardboard scoop, then put it in a jar filled with cold water and screw it on. You can also use an eye dropper to collect mercury.