Minimata Disease and The Photography of W Eugene

Minimata Disease and The Photography of W Eugene Smith Martin Donohoe http: //www. publichealthandsocialjustice. org

Mercury • Syphilis Treatment - 15 th Century onward - abandoned 1940 for penicillin • Recognized as cause of disease in 19 th Century (Hunter-Russell Syndrome) - chemists, hatters

Mercury • Released into air by coal combustion, industrial processes, mining, and waste disposal – 4500 tons/yr • Travels throughout atmosphere and settles in oceans and waterways

Gold Mining Gold = Cyanide + Mercury • Mercury used to capture gold particles as an amalgam • Gold leached from ore using cyanide – Cyanide paralyzes cellular respiration • At least 18 tons of mine waste created to obtain the gold for a single 3 oz. , 18 k ring

Gold Mining and Mercury • Contaminated groundwater often sits in large toxic lakes held in place by tenuous dams • Release of cyanide and mercury into local waterways kills fish, harms fish-eating animals, and poisons drinking water

Mercury • Bacteria convert it to toxic methylmercury (Me. Hg) • Travels up food chain via fish • Long biological half-life - 1 -3 years in humans • Regulation inadequate – Allows “cap and trade”

Mercury • 16% of women of childbearing age exceed the EPA’s “safe” mercury level • Freshwater fish mercury levels too high for pregnant women to eat in 43 states • Mercury dental amalgams pose health risks to pregnant women, unborn babies, and children (FDA Black Box Warning added 2009)

Minamata Bay • • Southern Japan Shiranui Sea Fishing village Villagers: fisherman/Chisso Corporation employees and their families

Chisso Corporation • Established 1918 • Produced acetaldehyde for plastics, drugs, perfumes, photography • Mercury (Hg) catalyst • Byproduct = methylmercury, dumped into bay (150 tons over 4 decades) • Dumped over 60 deadly poisons, including vinyl chloride (cause of liver cancer)

Chronology of Chisso's Environmental Pollution • 1925 - local fishing cooperative compensated for decreased catch • 1950 s - bizarre behavioral changes observed in birds, marine fish, land vertebrates; oysters vanish • 1950 s / 1960 s - reports in Japanese medical journals about human cases

Chronology of Chisso's Environmental Pollution • 1956 - cause (Me. Hg) of Minamata Disease elucidated • 1958 -60 - reports in English medical journals • 1959 -69 - Dr. Hosokawa's experiments – Cat #400 – Other studies • 1959 cyclator added – Removed Hg, but not Me. Hg

Chronology of Chisso's Environmental Pollution • 1965 - fishing banned in Minamata Bay after similar events noted in Niigata, Japan • 1968 - all acetaldehyde-producing plants have ceased operating • 1970 - Japan Water Pollution Control Act – Allowed no detectable Hg or Me. Hg in waste water

Chronology of Chisso's Environmental Pollution • 1997 – Minimata Bay declared free of mercury • 2004 – Japanese Supreme Court rules government shares responsibility for epidemic (government slow to react, cut off research funding in 1962)

Minimata Disease • 2578 official cases in Minamata Bay (almost 1800 dead); many unofficial cases; 10, 000 received financial compensation • Social stigma / Poor health care

Mercury: S/S, Dx, and Rx • S/S: neuropsychiatric symptoms, excessive salivation/inflammation of gums, rash, nephropathy – Linked to autism • Dx: mercury levels in air, blood, urine (>100 mcg/l in blood and/or urine = toxic) • Rx: chelation with BAL, penicillamine, DMPS, DMSA

Minimata Disease: Signs and Symptoms • Acute / Chronic Poisoning: – numbness, slurred speech, ataxia, unsteady gait, deafness, poor vision, dysphagia, hypersalivation, confusion, drowsiness/stupor to irritability/restlessness; chronic liver disease, liver cancer, hypertension – death within a few months if severe • Rx EDTA – only partially effective

Minimata Disease: Signs and Symptoms • Congenital: high dose → infertility; medium dose → spontaneous abortions; low dose → congenital disease • S/S: poor physical growth, mental retardation, impaired speech/chewing/swallowing, muscle tone abnormalities, involuntary movements, constricted visual fields - EDTA not effective

Civil suit vs. Chisso (1969 -73) • Plaintiffs awarded $66, 000 for deceased victims, $59, 000 - $66, 000 for survivors • Precedent - Niigata suit versus Showa Denko • $3. 4 million paid out the first night, $80 million paid out by 1975

Civil suit vs. Chisso (1969 -73) • Dr. Hosokawa key witness (from deathbed) – Identity - company employee vs. impartial physician with obligation to patients – Loyalty - company vs. to public

Reasons for Delayed Recognition and Action • Science slow, unfunded/underfunded, corrupt • Dissemination of knowledge slow • Social stigma of disease, fear of contagion • Pressure from fisheries cooperative, Chisso employees

Reasons for Delayed Recognition and Action • Lack of local/world awareness of health effects of pollution • Strong government-business links in Japan, employee loyalty strong

Decreasing Causes and Limiting Consequences of Mercury Pollution • Phase out coal burning power plants • Hospitals phasing out mercury thermometers • Stop buying gold (e. g. , wedding rings) • Make healthy seafood purchases • Screen and treat when appropriate

Minimata Disease Memorial

W Eugene Smith • Born 1918, Wichita, KS • Local news photographer at age 15 • Turned down scholarship to Notre Dame to study photography at NY Institute of Photography • Worked for Newsweek, then Life, then Magnum

W Eugene Smith • • Married to Aileen Smith, photojournalist Minimata: Final Assignment Beaten by Chisso employees Died 1978

Role of the Media in Promoting Awareness of Environmental Health Issues • Books – Henrik Ibsen’s Enemy of the People – Upton Sinclair's The Jungle – Rachel Carson's Silent Spring • Photography – W. Eugene and Aileen Smith's Minamata photoessay – Jacob Riis, Dorothea Lange, Sebastiao Salgado, James Nachtwey, others • Film, TV

Contact Info, References Martin Donohoe martindonohoe@phsj. org This slide show and others available at http: //www. publichealthandsocialjustice. org http: //www. phsj. org