wendy's+Minamata+Work+Pg2



Describe the impact the disaster had on the environment and people.

-Impact on People As Chisso Corporation continued dumping mercury into Minamata Bay women who had given birth to babies were poisoned. The children were born with mental retardation, blindness, deafness or even crooked limbs. In the year 1959 fishermen of Minamata began to protest against Chisso. They demanded that Chisso Corporation quit dumping toxic waste. Using documents that stated it would take care of individuals for illnesses Chisso tried to make deals with the people affected, the people felt like this was their only chance so they signed the papers. As Chisso dumped around 27 tons of mercury compounds into Minamata Bay, thousands of locals who had fish in their diet then developed methyl mercury poisoning. The mercury poisoning then harmed the environment by destroying it, Chisso Corporation was responsible for this disaster. 2 years later W, Eugene Smith, a photographer, traveled to Minamata, he took photos of the people suffering and published them for people around the world to see. As Chisso dumped mercury waste in the Minamata Bay, they began to destroy the fishing areas. In an interview with W. Eugene Smith it was believed that the Chisso Corporation thought that it would be much cheaper to pay off people who were going against the dumping than to remove the waste. As villagers accepted the money the entire project appeared to be clean. Around in the middle year of 1950 people began to notice the effects of the disease. In 1968 Chisso Corporation finally stopped polluting the waters of Minamata. According to the Japanese government 1784 people have died while 2955 others have caught the Minamata disease.

-Impact had on environment In Minamata was a corporation called “Chisso”, this corporation owned a large petrochemical plant that then was immediately suspected. Chisso Corporation rejected the accusations and continued its creation without any changes of plan to the production. In July, 1959, researchers from Kumamoto University found what caused Minamata disease, the cause of this disease was organic mercury. Chisso then continued to argue against the information and any links of mercury waste to the illness. Later on it was discovered that Chisso dumped around 27 tons of mercury in the Minamata Bay. The image below is a map of Chisso’s factory and the places where they had dumped wastewater. 