What does the Minamata disease incident give us?

1. What caused the Minamata disease in Japan? 2. What did the Minamata disease incident give us? 3. How did the Minamata disease incident happen? 4. How did the Minamata disease incident in Kumamoto, Japan happen? What causes Minamata disease in Japan < P > Minamata disease refers to a comprehensive disease caused by people or other animals eating fish and shellfish contaminated with organic mercury, which makes organic mercury invade brain nerve cells, and is one of the most typical public hazards in the world. Below I share the reasons for the Minamata disease incident in Japan. Let's take a look.

Causes of Minamata Disease in Japan

Causes of Minamata Disease

The culprit of Minamata Disease was a nitrogen (N) production enterprise that was at the cutting-edge technology of the global industry at that time. Nitrogen is used in the manufacture of daily necessities such as soap and chemical seasonings, and industrial products such as acetic acid (CH3COOH) and sulfuric acid (H2SO4). Japan's nitrogen industry was founded in 196. Since then, the chemical fertilizer manufacturing industry has developed rapidly due to the extensive use of chemical fertilizers. Some people even say that "the history of nitrogen is the history of Japan's chemical industry" and Japan's economic growth is "completed with the support of the chemical industry headed by nitrogen". However, the wanton development of this "pioneer industry" has brought endless disasters to local residents and their living environment.

catalysts containing mercury are used in the manufacturing process of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate, which makes the discharged wastewater contain a lot of mercury. When mercury is eaten by aquatic organisms in water, it will be converted into methylmercury (CH3HgCl). This highly toxic substance can kill people as long as it is half the size of an ear-digging spoon. At that time, due to the continuous production of nitrogen, the methylmercury content in Minamata Bay reached a level that was enough to poison the Japanese population twice. Minamata Bay has been seriously polluted due to the perennial discharge of industrial wastewater, and the fish and shrimp in Minamata Bay have also been polluted. These polluted fish and shrimp enter the bodies of animals and humans through the food chain. Methylmercury enters the human body through fish and shrimp, is absorbed by the stomach, and invades the brain and other parts of the body. Methylmercury entering the brain will shrink the brain, invade nerve cells, and destroy the cerebellum and sensory system that control the balance of the body. According to statistics, hundreds of thousands of people have eaten fish and shrimp contaminated by methylmercury in Minamata Bay.

As early as many years ago, there have been many reports about the abnormal changes of fish, mullets and cats, and even cats have disappeared in some places. "Minamata disease" has harmed the health and family happiness of local people, and has devastated many people physically and mentally, hit hard economically, and even ruined their families. More sadly, due to methylmercury pollution, fish and shrimp in Minamata Bay can no longer be fished and eaten, and the lives of local fishermen have lost their dependence, and many families are trapped in poverty. "I don't know the fire" has lost its vitality, and it is accompanied by a life-long sorrow.

Japan's economy recovered after World War II, and its industry developed rapidly. However, due to the lack of corresponding environmental protection and public hazard control measures at that time, industrial pollution and various public hazards were rampant. In addition to Minamata disease, four-day asthma and Toyama "painful disease" all appeared during this period. Although Japan's industrial development has made the economy profitable, the irretrievable destruction of the ecological environment and the endless public diseases have made the Japanese government and enterprises pay extremely expensive treatment, treatment and compensation in the future. So far, the protracted court proceedings brought by Minamata disease are still not over.

Analysis of Minamata Disease in Japan

The culprit of folding

Mercury, also known as mercury, is a silvery-white metal that shows how many degrees in our common temperature meter. It is a highly toxic heavy metal with strong volatility. The toxicity of mercury to organisms depends not only on its concentration, but also on its chemical form and the characteristics of organisms themselves. It is generally believed that mercury enters the body through the penetration of marine organisms (skin and gills) or ingestion of food containing mercury.

folding entry route

The main ways for mercury to enter the ocean are industrial wastewater, the loss of mercury-containing pesticides and the deposition of mercury-containing waste gas. In addition, mercury-containing slag and pulp are also one of its sources. Why are there mercury-containing seafood in Minamata Bay? This also starts from a factory in Minamata town. There is a synthetic acetic acid factory in Minamata town, in which two chemicals, mercury chloride and mercury sulfate, are used as catalysts. The catalyst only promotes the chemical reaction in the production process, and finally all of it is discharged into the nearby Minamata Bay with the wastewater, and most of it is deposited in the mud at the bottom of the bay. Mercury chloride and mercury sulfate, the catalysts selected by the factory, are not very toxic, although they are themselves toxic. However, they can be turned into highly toxic methylmercury by a bacterium called methylcobalamin in the seabed mud. Methylmercury can be released at the rate of 1% every year, which causes secondary pollution to the upper seawater. Fish, shrimp and shellfish living here for a long time are most easily polluted by methylmercury. According to the measurement, the amount of mercury in seafood in Minamata Bay has exceeded 5 times of the edible amount. Residents who eat this mercury-containing seafood for a long time will naturally become victims of methylmercury. Once methylmercury enters the human body, it will quickly dissolve in human fat, and most of it will gather in human brain and stick to nerve cells, which will reduce the ribonucleic acid in cells and cause cell division and death.

folding lethal dose

scientific experiments have confirmed that the safe concentration of mercury in human blood is 1 μ g/1ml, and when it reaches 5-1μ g/1ml, obvious poisoning symptoms will appear. It is calculated that if a person eats 2 grams of fish containing .5 mg/kg of mercury every day, the amount of mercury ingested by the human body is just within this safe range. However, the mercury content of seafood in Minamata Bay has been determined to be as high as tens of milligrams per kilogram, which has greatly exceeded the standard. In addition, people have to mix with other foods every day, which may also contain a certain amount of mercury, so the total amount of mercury intake throughout the day is much higher than the safety limit standard.

Minamata disease is a public hazard directly caused by mercury pollution to the marine environment. So far, similar pollution poisoning incidents have been found in many places. At the same time, other heavy metals such as cadmium, cobalt, copper, zinc, chromium, etc., as well as nonmetallic arsenic, are similar to mercury in many chemical properties, which cannot but arouse people's vigilance. After long-term follow-up, another kind of "bone pain disease" has finally occurred.

Folding heredity

Minamata disease is also very hereditary. Pregnant women who eat seafood contaminated with methylmercury may cause their babies to suffer from congenital Minamata disease, and even the offspring of some healthy people (who may be slightly injured and have no obvious symptoms) can't escape bad luck. Many children with congenital Minamata disease have obstacles in movement and language, and their symptoms are similar to polio, which shows that it is not easy to eliminate the influence of Minamata disease. Therefore, environmental scientists believe that heavy metal pollution in sediments is a "time bomb" in the environment, which may lead to premature explosion when external conditions adapt. For example, under anoxic conditions, some anaerobic organisms can methylate inorganic metals. Especially in recent 2 years, the uncontrolled discharge of a large number of pollutants has made the adsorption capacity of some harbor and coastal sediments tend to be saturated, which may detonate this chemical pollution "time bomb" at any time.

The environmental protection incident of Minamata disease in Japan has a warning significance for China's environmental protection

As one of the four major public hazards in Japan, the Minamata disease incident has been diagnosed for 5 years since the first patient with Minamata neck was diagnosed on May 1, 1956. Among them, 1,573 people have died, and another 1,154 people have been diagnosed.

It is reported that this enterprise discharged mercury-containing wastewater for the first time in 1932, the first patient was diagnosed in 1956, and then the government ordered the enterprise to stop discharging pollutants in 1968. The period spanned as long as 36 years, resulting in direct damage and the cost of eliminating the damage as high as 3 billion yen, and this figure is increasing every day.

On October 15th, 24, 45 people sued the Japanese government for administrative inaction and won the case in the Supreme Court of Japan. The "Minamata disease incident" once again attracted social attention. The judgment holds that the Japanese government did not make a decision to prohibit the discharge of mercury-containing wastewater until 12 years after it was informed of the causes of Minamata disease in 1956, and the government should bear the administrative responsibility for the expansion of Minamata disease. At present, more than 3,7 people have resorted to the law, demanding that the government bear the responsibility for damages.

It is reported that in order to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the diagnosis of Minamata's neck on May 1st, the Minamata municipal government will hold a memorial service for the dead in front of the newly-built Minamata disease memorial tablet. From the beginning of this year, major Japanese media began to plan and shoot a commemorative album about the 5th anniversary of Minamata disease. The Daily News, published here, also started to open a column to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the diagnosis of Minamata disease, which lasted until the beginning of May.

jia feng, head of the film crew and deputy director of the mission center of the State Environmental Protection Administration, said, "Fifty years have passed, but the damage caused by Minamata disease to Japanese people's lives and physical and mental health is still difficult to bridge, and the sewage companies and the government have a heavy economic and moral burden, which is hard to extricate themselves." He said that China should attach great importance to the "four public hazards", represented by Minamata disease, caused by Japanese neglect of environmental protection in the process of economic growth.

The TV film crew of "Window of Japan's Environmental Protection", which was jointly formed by the Mission Center of the State Environmental Protection Administration and CCTV, arrived in Japan on March 3th, and went into intensive filming. According to the plan, the film crew will stay in Japan for one month, from southwest to northeast, crossing the Japanese archipelago. The subjects are not only senior officials such as the Minister of the Environment, but also famous scholars, corporate executives and ordinary citizens. The interviews are rich in content.

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The Minamata disease has seriously endangered the health and family happiness of local people. The Minamata disease has devastated many people physically and mentally, and even destroyed their families. The fish and shrimp in Minamata Bay Minamata disease incident can no longer be caught and eaten, and the lives of local fishermen have lost their dependence, and many families are trapped in poverty. By 26, 2,265 people had been diagnosed with Minamata disease, most of whom had died.

The Minamata disease incident brought us far more thoughts. After confirming that the sewage discharged by Japan Nitrogen Fertilizer Company was the source of the disease in 1956, the Japanese government did nothing, so that the company continued to discharge pollutants for 12 years without scruple until 1968. Later, 45 victims jointly sued the Japanese government for inaction in the Minamata disease incident in the Supreme Court of Japan, and won the case in 24.

The court ruled that the Japanese government should immediately order polluting enterprises to stop the infringement after knowing the cause of Minamata disease in 1956, but it was not until 12 years later that the government made a decision. Therefore, the Japanese government should bear administrative responsibility for the expansion of Minamata disease caused by its failure to make a decision in time.

Japan's industry developed rapidly after the Second World War, but due to the lack of environmental protection measures, industrial pollution and various public hazards were rampant. Although the economy has developed, the Japanese government and enterprises have paid a very high price for environmental damage and endless public diseases.

After the incident

In p>1956, a strange disease was found near Minamata Bay. This disease first appeared in cats and was called "cat chorea". Sick cats are called "suicide cats" because of their unsteady gait, convulsions, paralysis and even jumping into the sea to die. Soon after, people with this disease were also found here. The patient has the above symptoms because the central and peripheral nerves of the brain are invaded.

At that time, this disease was called "strange disease" because its cause was unknown. This "strange disease" is the "Minamata disease" that will stir the world in the future, and it is the earliest public hazard disease caused by industrial wastewater discharge pollution.

Baidu Encyclopedia-How did the Minamata disease incident happen in Japan?

Minamata is a coastal town with beautiful scenery and prosperous fishing in the south of Japan, which is in the south of Kyushu. In the early 195s, there seemed to be some evil here, which brought a series of disasters to this small town.

On the blue sea, there are pieces of dead fish with their white bellies turned upside down; In the bright sky, the flying seabirds flew and suddenly fell into the sea; There are even cats in the city, all of them seem to be possessed, convulsing all over, turning around crazily, and finally committing suicide by jumping into the sea.

disaster soon befalls people. Some people, like cats jumping into the sea, are sometimes crazy and irritable, sometimes dull, unable to wake up for a long time, their limbs are numb and insane, and finally they die of convulsions. When this case first appeared in 1956, people didn't know the cause, so they could only call it Minamata disease in medicine. Soon more than a thousand people died in Japan, which shocked the whole world. Finally, people found out the cause of the disease, which is central nervous mercury poisoning caused by upstream sewage discharge.

It turns out that after industrial development, many factories discharge industrial sewage into seawater. Many metallic mercury also enters the marine ecosystem with sewage. Plankton, shellfish, shrimp and fish eat a lot of mercury first, then birds, cats and finally people. Mercury "travels" along the food chain of marine and coastal organisms.

the terrible thing about mercury is that it is not only toxic, but also that it will not be decomposed and discharged in the living body, but will accumulate continuously. From shrimp to fish to cats to people, mercury is transmitted along the food chain level by level, and the dose increases level by level. This phenomenon is called biological enrichment in ecology. Under the action of some anaerobic microorganisms, the inorganic compounds of mercury can form methyl mercury with great toxicity, which will cause people or organisms to die of poisoning. Methylmercury can also poison the fetus through the placenta, resulting in dementia or disability.

Mercury originally existed mainly in mineral state outside the ecological cycle. Due to human production activities, it was released and then entered the ecological cycle. It is man himself who has brought disaster to himself.

A similar situation is "bone pain". Patients with this disease have fragile bones and are prone to fracture, and even sneezing may cause rib fracture. Due to multiple fractures on his body, the patient was in great pain and wailed day and night. All the listeners are creepy. Medical workers have found 73 fractures from a patient who died of osteopathic pain. The disease first appeared in Japan, and most of the patients were women. The cause was that cadmium-containing wastewater polluted the water source, and people ate rice and soybeans irrigated with sewage. How did the Minamata disease incident in Kumamoto, Japan happen?

The water pollution caused by Minamata disease in Japan is inseparable from the development of its industry. During the period of rapid economic growth in Japan after the war, the Minamata disease in heavy chemical industry was focused on. The wastewater discharged from them contained a lot of heavy metals, toxic sludge, polychlorinated biphenyls, oil and phenol, which seriously polluted the water quality. Heavy metals in industrial wastewater are mainly mercury and cadmium, which are accumulated in organisms thousands of times after being enriched in the food chain of the ecosystem. These organisms are further concentrated and enriched in fish after being swallowed by fish, and people will be chronically poisoned once they eat these aquatic products.

Minamata disease

Minamata is a small town in southern Kyushu, Japan, which is under the jurisdiction of Kumamoto Prefecture. There are 4, residents in the town, and there are more than 1, farmers and fishermen living in the surrounding villages. Its west is rich in fish.