Authors:
- Overviews the methylmercury poisoning that occurred in the 1950s among residents in Minamata, Japan
- Provides lessons for young generation, scientists, factory engineers and government administrators to avoid a repeat of the tragedy
- Explains that the incident has not been settled yet and links this to the current global mercury pollution issue
Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science (BRIEFSENVIRONMENTAL)
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Table of contents (3 chapters)
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Front Matter
About this book
This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.
It overviews the poisoning which occurred in the 1950s and 1960s among the residents in Minamata who ate seafood contaminated with methylmercury discharged from the chemical factory, Chisso Corporation. It describes the history, symptoms pathogenesis and research on the causal agent, and discusses the responses of Chisso and the national and local governments to the outbreak, the victims, the compensation and environmental restructuring as well as the court ruling on claims. Based on lecture notes from a university course, it includes students’ suggestions for avoiding a repeat of the tragedy. The issue has not been settled yet, and this analysis of the incident provides useful insights into solutions to the current global mercury pollution problem.Â
Authors and Affiliations
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Educational Unit for Studies of Hills, Humans and Oceans, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Hisashi Yokoyama
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Mercury Pollution in Minamata
Authors: Hisashi Yokoyama
Series Title: SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7392-2
Publisher: Springer Singapore
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental Science, Earth and Environmental Science (R0)
Copyright Information: The Author(s) 2018
Softcover ISBN: 978-981-10-7391-5Published: 22 January 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-981-10-7392-2Published: 19 January 2018
Series ISSN: 2191-5547
Series E-ISSN: 2191-5555
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 67
Number of Illustrations: 5 b/w illustrations, 13 illustrations in colour
Topics: Industrial Pollution Prevention, Environmental Sociology, Environmental Communication, Ecotoxicology, Corporate Environmental Management, Waste Water Technology / Water Pollution Control / Water Management / Aquatic Pollution