Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO, May 2 2006 (IPS) – Fifty years after Japan s worst industrial pollution disaster, the Minamata mercury poisoning tragedy, victims say they are still awaiting redressal.
Every day passes by without proper access to medication, financial compensation or most of all, recognition from the state that it is indeed, responsible for the huge suffering it has caused its own people. This is hardest part, Masami Ogata, 48, a victim told IPS.
Ogata, who lives in Minamata city, was diagnosed by doctors as having unusually high levels of mercury contamination hair tests revealed 226ppm, way over the World Health Organisation prescribed maximum safe limit of 50 ppm.
But, the Kumamoto provincial government refuses to grant him official recognition. He belongs to a group of 3,800 people living in the affected areas, whose applications now lie in limbo after a landmark lawsuit in 2004 loosened the 1997 official recognition criteria but continue to be rejected by the Japanese government.
The refusal of the government to accept standards set by doctors in the lawsuit has left people like us with a bleak future, said Ogata who suffers from bouts of brain seizures and worsening numbing of his hands, typical symptoms of Minamata disease say medical experts.
Ogata s grandparents and parents died in agony, their brains reduced to mushy organs the consequence of eating fish polluted by mercury that was dumped by the chemical factories of Chisso Corp. into the Yatsushiro sea which surrounds the small fishing villages on southwestern Kyushu island.
His sister, recognised as a Minamata victim, cannot lead a normal life and has to be taken care of by the family.
The scandal turned into a national issue in the early sixties, leading to protests across the country as information on the neurological illness images of villagers shaking uncontrollably or children paralysed brought home the stark message of public and environmental vulnerability resulting from corporate greed.
Supporters have presented documentation in court showing the government refused to stop Chisso from discharging poisonous effluents into the Minamata river from 1958 to 1968 and even after the cause of Minamata disease was firmly established in 1960.
Though Minamata disease was officially recognised on May 1, 1956, Chisso was allowed to continue its dumping until 1968 and evaded accountability until 1973.
In 1995, the government apologised to the victims for the long delay in reaching a settlement. Chisso was to pay 2.6 million yen (23,000 US dollars) to each victim, while provincial and central governments were to pay medical expenses for non-certified patients. About 10,000 people accepted. And in 2004, the supreme court finally pronounced the central government partly responsible for Minamata disease.
But redressal has been slow and half-hearted with doctors saying that systematic research is yet to be undertaken, leaving a loophole for the government to refuse to pay compensation.
Dr Shiego Ekino, a leading expert at Kumamoto University, and supporter of the activists, says a hospital devoted specially to conduct research on Minamata disease needs to be established to provide proper medical treatment for the victims.
It is a matter of urgent concern for Japan and the rest of the world, said Ekino, speaking to press recently, referring to the pressing need to combat ongoing environmental pollution cases affecting tens of thousands of people in many countries where economic development policies takes priority over public safety.
Ekino said much of his research on Minamata, that provided crucial evidence for victims during their lawsuits, depended on funds provided by supporters andhis own resources.
As the fight for compensation takes various twists and turns and aging Minamata victims begin to die, activists vowed to continue their fight to force the government to fully accept its responsibility and enact laws that will protect people from environmental pollution.
Minamata will never go away and the government had better accept this, said Katsuya Kosaka, spokesperson for the Kyoto-based Minamata Disease Eradication Group said at 50th anniversary commemorations of the tragedy on Monday.
Given the difficulty in gaining medical evidence, Kosaka and supporters have begun to address the disease as a human rights violation based on the lack of state support for public health safety. They are also campaigning for a fishing ban in the sea that provides marine life to more than 200,000 people living in the area.
Meanwhile, the Japanese Diet (parliament) adopted a resolution, last week, promising to prevent recurrence of health problems cased by industrial pollution and calling on the government to deal with Minamata disease victims in cooperation with local public organisations.
While Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed official regret for government lapses ahead of the commemoration neither he nor any of his predecessors has cared to visit Minamata.
And whether the long delayed steps, now being announced, will ease the struggle for recognition faced by mercury poisoning victims, remains unclear.
Taking responsibility for Minamata will mean the government has recognised its failure to the people. Our suffering shows the long shadow that hangs over the country s postwar economic miracle, says Ogata.
No Responses