5 : WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO CHISSO?

Chisso Co., Ltd. has its head office in Tokyo, and factories in Chiba and Okayama prefectures in addition to the one in Minamata. The main products of the Chisso Minamata factory include liquid crystals, preservatives, desiccants, chemical fertilizers, and synthetic resins. It employed about 660 people as of September 2000, and is still an important company in Minamata.

Chisso owes enormous debts as the company that caused Minamata disease. In 1975 its worsening financial situation led to fears that it might become unable to make compensation payments to patients, so since 1978 the national and prefectural governments have provided it with financial support through the issuance of prefectural bonds. The total value of the prefectural bonds issued through the end of December 2000 was about 256.8 billion yen, of which Chisso must repay 166.1 billion yen to Kumamoto prefecture.

[PREV] [TOP] [NEXT]

back