The Minamata Disaster - Minamata Disease
The Minamata Disease Disaster happen in Japan in 1956 due to illegal dumping of hazardous waste into sea. The disaster it self called as Minamata Incident, the incident occur 12 year before the official investigation conducted and arrived at conclusion as methylmercury poisoning.
The video below is explain the event.
The Minamata area is the area located near sea where the fishing activity carry out as commercial activity. The fishing activity is one of the cause for the biomagnificent of methylmercury and affected the people in Minamata. The maps below show the location of Chisso Factory which is dumped the mercury into river which cause Methylmercury poisoning.
The Chisso Plant used mercury as catalyst to produce acetaldehyde which is component of fertilizer. Chisso Plant produced the Fertilizer from the year 1907 and claimed there is no issue of mercury poisoning since 1907 until 1956 when people condemned the factory as reason for contamination.
This disaster happen due to poor waste management and chemical management. Most of the people indicate this disaster as environmental issue, however the OSHA included hazardous waste inside the chemical management which is field of Safety and Health. In Safety and Health, the incident which cause illness due to company activity is failure of Safety and Health Practitioner in highlighting the effect of company activity to owner, employees and third parties including people surrounding. This disaster shall not place as side and given to Environmental Practitioner to be rectified. The same scenario may occur in future in most of the company where Safety and Health not included in Environmental Issue.
The detailed outline in diagram below.
After all this disaster effect and event, on October 2013 Minamata mercury treaty signed at UN Conferences by 140 delegates and territories to control mercury near site of Minamata.
This disaster also remind all the factory owner to properly manage chemical and dispose hazardous waste properly although you may think the effect cannot be traced or nothing to worried. In the end, there is always a way to detect the non conformance to and effect of your industrial activity. It is a duty of Safety and Health Practitioner in ensure the company manage chemical and waste properly.
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How do the Methylmercury Poisoning Occur?
Mercury is a substance comes from natural and anthropogenic sources. The effect of mercury that enter oceans, lakes and river area conversion from mercury to methylmercury through bioaccumulation in aquatic food webs including fish and shellfish, the conversion also possible by aquatic biota.
Conversion of Mercury to Methylmercury and process of bioaccumulation and biota explained in diagram below.
Study conducted by Geirid Piskesjo from Institute of Genetics, University of Lund, Sweden show that Methylmercury has mutagenic and teratogenic effect on mammalian cell of cell line V-79-4.
From the studies, it is concluded that Methylmercury possess:
Have significant effect on the exposed person and also future generation of offspring due to mutagenic effect. That is the reason why offspring from susceptible person also affected due to damaged DNA of separated during meiosis process in spermatogenis and fertilize in order to form fetus in later process.
Have significant effect on the exposed person and fetus in the womb due to teratogenic effect of Methylmercury. The teratogenic agent can cause Congenital Disorder such as spina bifida.
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