Abstract
Minamata disease, i.e., methylmercury poisoning, happened in the vicinity of Minamata Bay, Japan, by inhabitants’ eating a large quantity of fish contaminated with wastewater discharged from a chemical plant. It was an environmental epidemic in a way but also a man-made calamity that occurred under the government’s policy to put the highest priority on economic growth in the postwar era. Based on such a tragedy in Japan, an international treaty, i.e., Minamata Convention on Mercury, was designed to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds. This is exactly one effective way to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) for water and sanitation. By understanding the process of unraveling what the causal agent of Minamata disease was, people should recognize a mission to stay tuned toward the latest information on the globe, keep on watching the changing environment, and find out the truth without any prejudice.
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Murata, K., Karita, K. (2022). Minamata Disease. In: Nakajima, T., Nakamura, K., Nohara, K., Kondoh, A. (eds) Overcoming Environmental Risks to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Current Topics in Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6249-2_2
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