8C+Mai+Phan+Minamata+pg.6

What has been done to fix the problem?  There were a lot of social solutions for the Minamata disease but there weren’t any real solutions that fixed the Minamata problem. On the 19th of December 1959, the Chisso factory installed a Cyclator purification system. But this was just a social solution to stop everyone from scrutinising the company and did nothing to remove the mercury. In people’s minds, the Minamata disease had been resolved. A solution that helped to stop the disease but did not stop it completely was the ban of eating fish and shellfish from Minamata bay in 1957. This solution did not work really well because consuming fish from other areas of the Shiranui Sea not just Minamata bay could cause the disease as well. On the 26th of September 1968 twelve years after the discovery of the Minamata disease, the government made an incorrect statement that the Minamata disease had ended. This statement was made to relieve people but was not true. In 1968, a chief citizens’ support group was formed called the Citizens' Council for Minamata Disease Countermeasures. The group helped patients and their families regain their rights and compensations. Because of the Minamata disease, Japan started to step towards democracy which gave people more rights.

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