What is meant by Minamata disease?

Minamata disease: A disorder caused by methyl mercury poisoning that was first described in the inhabitants of Minamata Bay, Japan and resulted from their eating fish contaminated with mercury industrial waste.

What is Minamata disease Class 9?

Hint: Minamata disease is a methylmercury poisoning with neurological symptoms and caused by the daily consumption of large quantities of fish and shellfish that were heavily contaminated with the toxic chemical are produced in factories and are thrown into the sea. Once nerve cells die, they cannot regenerate.

What is Minamata disease effects?

Minamata disease, sometimes referred to as Chisso-Minamata disease, is a neurological disease caused by severe mercury poisoning. Signs and symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, loss of peripheral vision, and damage to hearing and speech.

How was Minamata disease resolved?

After several rounds of civil lawsuits, the issue of legal responsibility for Minamata disease was finally resolved about half a century after its discovery in 2004, when the Japanese Supreme Court ruled that the national government and Kumamoto Prefecture were jointly responsible for the cause and spread of Minamata …

How can people avoid getting Minamata disease?

Minamata disease can be prevented by reducing or eliminating one’s consumption of fish caught from bodies of water that are contaminated with high concentrations of mercury.

Is Minamata disease still around?

Once called an “origin of environmental pollution,” Minamata disease was officially confirmed on this day 65 years ago. The film’s message–that “Minamata disease is still not over”–remains as heavy as ever.

Is Minamata disease curable?

However, a fundamental cure for Minamata disease has not yet been found. The main treatments involve the temporary relief of symptoms (symptomatic therapy), and rehabilitation (physiotherapy and occupational therapy).

Who died from mercury?

Karen Wetterhahn

Can Minamata disease be cured?

Is Minamata Bay safe now?

Four decades after horrible cases of mercury poisoning made Minamata Bay synonymous with environmental catastrophe, the regional government today declared the fish in the bay to be safe to eat. ”The danger of Minamata disease occurring again is gone,” Mr. Fukushima said.

Can you touch pure mercury?

If you touch it, a small amount may pass through your skin, but not usually enough to harm you. Mercury is most harmful when you breathe in the vapors that are released when a container is open or a spill occurs. Pregnant women, infants and young children are particularly sensitive to the harmful effects of mercury.

What does mercury do to the human body?

Health effects of mercury exposure The inhalation of mercury vapour can produce harmful effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, lungs and kidneys, and may be fatal. The inorganic salts of mercury are corrosive to the skin, eyes and gastrointestinal tract, and may induce kidney toxicity if ingested.

What is the Minamata disaster?

The Minamata Disaster. Minamata is a small fishing town on the coast of the Shiranui Sea . Because of its location, townspeople eat a lot of fish. The fish-based diets of the people and cats of Minamata seemed to be the common thread between those showing symptoms, leading scientists to suspect the fish in Minamata Bay were being poisoned.​.

What was the Minamata Bay Disaster?

Minamata Bay disaster. The most puzzling mass poisoning by organo-mercury came from naturally produced methyl mercury compounds, albeit from mercury discharged from industry, and this occurred around Minamata Bay in the 1950s. Minamata Bay is on the eastern shore of the Shiranui Sea and part of Kyushu , Japan’s southern island.

What is Minamata incident?

Minamata disease is the name given to mercury toxicosis (poisoning) that developed in people who ate contaminated seafood taken from Minamata Bay and adjacent coastal waters in the period after World War II. During this time, methyl mercury was dumped into the sea as an unwanted by-product…