Minamata – Lesson in our history

Pollution and contamination leaves a bad mark on our history; such as a wound, the skin damaged will always have its marked. And the saying also goes to heavy metal contamination. Though many lessons can be learned from our past conduct, still we haven’t learned about the effects of heavy metal pollution. Still we pour our industrial waste to our rivers and oceans and leave it untreated.

Other than industry, mining and settlements could also contribute to heavy metal contaminations. Heavy metal contaminations occur when the water has heavy metal levels far exceeded its limit, thus endangering human and other life forms directly or indirectly. Indication of heavy metal contamination is when there’s a high level of heavy metal substances in the water body or in the life forms living in it. Common heavy metal contamination is from an exceeding limit of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, or mercury. The effects of these contaminants are extremely dangerous. Chromium is carcinogenic; lead (Sn) could cause mental and physical disability, loss of hearing, disrupt our reproductive ability and our movements. (Pb) could block the building of red blood cells, caused anemia, and brain damage. Cadmium caused brain, fetus, bones and joints damage and light anemia. Arsenic caused kidney stone, anemia, lever, cancer and prostate damage. One of the worst is mercury.

One of the most well known and famous case on heavy metal contaminations, is the Minamata case in Japan. The case was caused by the dumping of waste water from a petrochemical factory called Nippon Chisso Hiryu that produced acetaldehydes and PVC (polyvinyl chloride) in Minamata village, Kyushu Island. The mercury is used as catalyst and for 36 years (1932 – 1968), they had been dumping their untreated waste water to the gulf of Minamata. The compound (methyl-mercury-chloride) has been known to enter and accumulated in fishes and shellfish consumed by the locals. Around 1950s, started with the death of many cats-previously acting strange, the symptoms started to show on the locals; unexplained headache, tired, speak impediment, difficult to swallow, blurry sight, and other symptoms. Yet the worst is to come, the case leaves 100 crippled or disabled babies and more than 40 babies are born dead. On 1969, the company was filed for court and been found guilty of contaminating the Minamata Gulf since 1932 to 1968. And after all this time, the water of Minamata have just recently been declared free of contaminants, and now the fish is safe for consumptions.

The case teaches us that contamination or pollutions are not always a direct impact. The results can be felt by our children or our children’s-children to come. The same goes to our current conditions where our earth is burdened by our actions. W e should realize that this earth is not ours, it’s our children’s and their children’s to come. So, why don’t we give our kids a better future for them to grow.