The Minamata Disaster
Minamata poisoning is a form of mercury poisoning that occured near the Shiranui Sea in Japan. Minamata poisoning is when dimethylmercury accumulates in the adipose cells of animals. It has all the traiditonal symptoms of mercury poisoning - paralyzation of body parts leading to death. Dimethylmercury leaking from a nearby manufacturing plant accumulated in the fish in the Shiranui Sea, which were then eaten by the inhabitants of Minamata Bay. Minamata poisoning and it’s effects led to the Minamata Convention, the first global meeting on regulation of a single hazardpus material. The Japanese government’s mishandling of Minamata poisoning and it’s effects have had global, far-reaching consequences.
