Minamata - Sufferers of Minamata disease not yet certified with the illness, are still awaiting relief measures decades after a company dumped an estimated 27 tons of mercury compounds into Minamata Bay.

Having met with sufferers of the disease in Minimata for the first time since his appointment last September, Japan's Environment Minister, Goshi Hosono, issued an apology today for the delay in relief measures for uncertified victims of the Minamata disaster. The Minamata disaster was tied to the Chisso Corporation, a company located in Kumamoto Japan, that between 1932 and 1968, dumped an estimated 27 tons of mercury compounds into Minamata Bay, poisoning the fish and shellfish captured and eaten by the Minamata people.
By the mid 1950s, town residents began to exhibit strange symptoms ranging from numbness in lips and limbs (parathesia) to brain damage and perceived craziness. Evaluated as a severe neurological disease, Minamata disease was named after the bay, where those most affected, lived and caught their food.
In 1995, groups of uncertified patients accepted government-initiated settlement proposals leading to redress measures in June 2010. Adopted for uncertified patients, these measures featured a lump sum of 2.1 million yen and 12,900 to 17,700 in monthly medical allowances.
But the process carried a three year provision, which meant the state must decide what applications to accept within that time frame, said Japan's Mainichi Daily News.
Critics of the process, including Masazumi Harada, a doctor involved in the Minamata issue, argued that the deadline could see potential sufferers of Minamata disease, missing out on relief altogether. Harada told the Japan Times last June:
"Symptoms of Minamata disease develop with advancing age. There still must be many potential patients [...including...] congenital patients, who were hit by mercury in the womb and who so far have not exhibited symptoms."
It is for this reason, organizations who support those suffering with the disease, say there should not be a deadline at all. Hosono, Japan's Environment Minister agreed that the end of the current fiscal year on March 31 "isn't appropriate" for the application deadline, but stopped shy of saying when or if a rescue measures limit would be set. Hosono however, did express regret for the delay and told sufferers from the Kumotomo Prefecture:
"I would like to apologize for the fact that the issue is yet to be solved and is still causing you suffering."
Back in 2006, Dr. Shigeo Ekino, Professor at the Graduate School of Medical Sciences at Kumamoto University wrote in the paper entitled, Mistaken Science Caused Erroneous Diagnosis and the Underestimation...:
Since the outbreak of Minamata disease in 1953, the number of patients has reached 2,264 by 2000. It is estimated that at most, in the order of 200,000 people could be suspected cases of MeHg poisoning, considering the coastal areas around the Shiranui Sea had a population of about 200,000 in 1960.
Mercury poisoning and harmful levels of toxins in the marine environment, including PCBs, is an ongoing concern for the Japanese people. Conservation group BlueVoice.org in conjunction with Japan's, Elsa Nature Conservancy conduct regular testing on dolphin meat killed and consumed in Taiji, Japan. BlueVoice is currently funding tests on the meat of striped dolphins recently killed at Taiji. "Past tests have showed striped dolphin meat to be highly toxic", said Hardy Jones, co-founder of BlueVoice.