70 years ago, the wastewater from international recidivists in the front row of Japan caused Minamata disease in the whole city. Is the disaster still going on?

Japan decided to discharge nuclear waste into the Pacific Ocean. The relevant responsible unit, Tokyo Electric Power, said that the nuclear wastewater has reached the standard after two treatments. But the problem is that TEPCO is notorious for lying, and we can't believe it easily. Secondly, Japan does not allow other neighboring countries to send experts to Fukushima to detect nuclear waste water.

Therefore, it should be questioned whether the Fukushima nuclear wastewater meets the discharge standards, but Japan is bent on its own way, ignoring the opposition of its neighbors and discharging the wastewater into the Pacific Ocean, which shows how crazy Japan is. Similar incidents have occurred more than once in Japanese history. The last time a similar incident happened, it led to a large-scale outbreak of strange diseases in Japan, and the harm has continued until now. What the hell was that?

japan minamata disease events

1956 or so, a strange disease appeared near Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. Sick people have slurred speech, facial dementia, paralysis of hands and feet, and even mental disorders, bending over and screaming until they die. This strange disease is not just a person, but a large-scale outbreak and spread. Nearly a quarter of the city's population is infected with this strange disease, also known as Minamata disease. Since this incident broke out, its impact is still continuing. Historically, the Minamata disease in Japan has been called one of the eight major public hazards in the world.

When such a strange disease appeared on a large scale, Japanese officials began to preside over the investigation. It is found that this strange disease is caused by mercury poisoning. Then what is mercury poisoning?

First of all, mercury is a metal, which we also call mercury. At room temperature, it is liquid and is often used to make thermometers. Pure mercury is toxic. If mercury is taken orally, inhaled or even exposed, it will damage the central nervous system, peripheral nerves and brain internal organs, leading to muscle weakness, poor coordination, paralysis of hands and feet, and even mental disorder until death.

Then the question is, why is there a large-scale mercury poisoning incident?

At that time, after investigation, it was found that 1925, Japan Nitrogen Fertilizer Company built a factory near Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, and then built a factory to synthesize acetic acid. Japan Nitrogen Fertilizer Company began to produce vinyl chloride (chemical formula C2H3Cl) from 1949, and the annual output is increasing. By 1956, the output of this plant of Japan Nitrogen Fertilizer Company has reached 6000 tons.

But in the process of synthesizing vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate, mercury is needed as a catalyst. This makes mercury exist in industrial wastewater produced in the production process. However, the factory did not treat these industrial wastewater, and directly discharged these wastewater into the sea.

As a result, the living things in the sea absorbed a lot of mercury, resulting in a large number of deaths of fish and seabirds in the sea. But people at that time didn't realize that the disaster was approaching, only to find that fewer fish were caught. At 1952, many local cats got "strange diseases", even went crazy and jumped into the sea. Within a year, 50,000 cats committed suicide. Subsequently, other poultry and pets also appeared "strange diseases", and finally human beings began to be infected with "strange diseases"

To put it bluntly, marine organisms eat mercury, and then it enters fish along the food chain. Finally, because humans eat fish, mercury enters the human body, leading to many people's "strange diseases." At that time, there were only 40,000 residents in the town, and about 1 10,000 people suffered from different degrees of strange diseases.

History will repeat itself.

Japanese nitrogenous fertilizer company is very passive in dealing with this matter. Instead of stopping discharging industrial wastewater, it tried to cover up the truth and hired thugs to beat photographers. The Japanese government is also very passive in handling this matter. It took 12 years to determine that the factory caused mercury poisoning.

Not only that, the Japanese government has not learned the lesson. Just before the Minamata incident was clarified, a similar incident broke out in another part of Japan, which was called the second Minamata disease in history.

Similarly, the culprit this time, Showa Electric Company, like Japan Nitrogen Fertilizer Company, tried to evade responsibility. As a result, local residents were very angry and filed a lawsuit in court. It took them seven years to finally win the lawsuit.

Although the people finally won the lawsuit and got compensation. But the problem is that the disaster caused by Minamata disease continues, and many people are still suffering from mercury poisoning. People might as well die. It can be said that their lives have been completely changed because of this "strange disease", or completely destroyed by this strange disease, and the money can't make up for it.

History should not be forgotten.

What about now? Japan seems to have forgotten history and the crimes they committed, and even the whole country decided to dump nuclear waste water into the Pacific Ocean. Although the United States supports it on the surface, what is behind it? It is required to strictly investigate the food safety imported from Japan to the United States.

The position of the United States is only for political purposes, but its body is honest, and they know the harm of dumping nuclear waste water into the Pacific Ocean. No one in other countries knows what the nuclear sewage in Japan is now, and no one can guarantee whether it will cause harm similar to Minamata disease.

Japanese officials say the water is clean enough to drink, but who really drank it? Is it useful to "apologize" when there is a problem? History should not be forgotten, but the Japanese are forgetful.