3 : HOW MANY MINAMATA DISEASE VICTIMS ARE THERE?

Over 17,000 people from Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures (all figures given below are for patients in both prefectures) have applied for certification as Minamata disease victims. Of these, 2,264 (of whom 1,408 have passed away) were certified by the government. In addition, 10,353 people have been declared eligible for lump sum payments from Chisso based on the national government's 1995 settlement plan to aid uncertified patients. Therefore, 12,617 people have been officially recognized as patients affected by mercury. However, in addition to these, some people died before the official discovery of Minamata disease, others died after the discovery but before they could apply for official certification or medical assistance, and for various reasons some patients have never applied for compensation, so it is impossible to know the exact number of victims.

In addition to the Minamata disease caused by Chisso, in 1964 Minamata disease also broke out along the Agano River in Niigata prefecture, where the Showa Denko Corporation used the same production process. Elsewhere in the world, damage to health due to mercury pollution from factories has also been reported along the Songhua (Sungari) River in China, and in Canada. And in recent years rivers and lakes polluted by mercury in the Amazon and Tanzania have created serious health concerns.

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