No.1256 Sixty-six Years after Official Certification
Minamata disease is one of the Four Big Pollution Diseases which the Japanese government designates as an illness attributable to the environmental hazards. On May 1 this year it is the 66th year from the official recognition of the disease in 1956. Until today, however, the entire damages have not been disclosed and judicial battles are going on in various regions, accusing the government and the enterprise, Chisso Corporation.
MINAMATA DISEASE STILL AGONIZES VICTIMS
Minamata disease was detected as a sickness among local people living in the vicinity of the Minamata Bay, the Shiranuikai Sea area, who complained numbness in the hands and feet and loss of peripheral vision: it was because they had eaten fish and shellfish grown in the bay to which the Chisso’s chemical plant had discharged wastewater polluted with methylmercury. The incident occurred in Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture.
Certification of patients of the disease is entrusted to the Examination Council of prefecture for legal procedures, relying on the law, the Compensation Act for Health Damages from Public Nuisances (implemented in 1974). And, usually, Governors recognize patients after receiving reports from the Council.
As of the end of February this year, 2,283 people were certified as patients of Minamata disease in both of the Kumamoto and Kagoshima Prefectures, with over 17 thousand applicants in total being removed from certification.
Irrational court judgement, again
Many of the excluded patients went to the court, requesting accreditation. Seven plaintiffs were dismissed March 30 at the Kumamoto District Court. The judgement was illegitimate as it agrees to goals of the government and the business entity.
The seven patients are male and female members of the association of mutual assistance, belonging to the same generation as the patients of congenital form of the disease. The Kumamoto District Court did not recognize them as a patient, saying ‘the signs and symptoms are not rationally explained as attributable to the methylmercury’ as far as the disorder of senses is concerned’. The plaintiffs have appealed.
These victims were born around the year 1956 when the disease was officially discovered and grew in the region. They live currently in Minamata City and Izumi City of Kagoshima Prefecture, being between 62 and 69 years of age.
They claimed that their mothers and themselves had eaten on the daily basis fish poisoned with methylmercury, the element of which was drained by the Chisso’s plant, and, thus, they had been affected during the phase of fetus and infantry. The plaintiffs requested cancellation of rejection of application for certification, seeking for right recognition of the disease pursuant to the Compensation Act for Health Damages from the Public Nuisances.
The seven people asked the two prefectural authorities for recognition between 2002 and 2005, but failed and sued in 2015. All their family members are certified patients or they are given a healthcare certificate as a victim. The plaintiffs and supporters have protested, showing their demands in the paper board, reading ‘An unjust court decision! Up to when will suffering last?’
Evidences seen in patients’ bodies
Many have applied for certification, but have given it up, as most of the applications have been left out of recognition. They wanted to raise the voices loudly, but they could not. The plaintiffs, knowing well about this reality, stood up courageously and appealed to the higher court, representing these people. They are ready to fight until the last moment.
The Supreme Court’s decisions of 2004 and 2013 admitted the broader category of damages than the state’s norms, more sympathetic to patients. But the verdict of Kumamoto Court pulls back from this horizon.
The state authorities have tried to close the lawsuit several times, but ended in vain, because sufferers have been left unprotected.
The administration and the judiciary must listen sincerely to the claim of plaintiffs; ‘you can find truths of Minamata disease in our proper bodies’.
水俣病は熊本県水俣市のチッソ水俣工場がメチル水銀を含む排水を不知火海の水俣湾にたれ流し、汚染された魚介類を食べた住民らが手足のしびれや視野狭さくなどを発症した。
患者認定は、公害健康被害補償法（１９７４年施行）に基づき国の法定受託事務として、通常は各県審査会の答申を受け知事が判断する。
熊本、鹿児島両県で今年２月末時点で２２８３人が認定、延べ１万７千人超が申請を棄却された。
またも不当判決
棄却された多くの患者は行政訴訟を闘っているが、去る３月30日に熊本地裁で７人に｢棄却｣の判決があった。国とチッソの意向に従った不当なものだ。
７人は、水俣病の胎児性患者と世代が重なる水俣病被害者互助会の男女。熊本地裁は、全員を水俣病と認めず、感覚障害などの症状について「メチル水銀由来と合理的に説明できない」とした。原告側は控訴した。
７人は、水俣病が公式確認された１９５６年前後に不知火海沿岸で生まれ育った。鹿児島県出水市や水俣市などに住み、年齢は62～69歳。
原因企業チッソの工場排水で汚染された魚介を母親や自身が日常的に食べ、胎児・小児期にメチル水銀を体内に取り込んだとして、公害健康被害補償法に基づく水俣病申請の棄却処分取り消しと、認定を求めていた。
７人は02～05年、両県に認定を申請したが棄却され、15年に提訴した。全員の親族が認定患者か各種手帳を持つ。判決に原告と支援者は、「不当判決、苦海どこまで」と書いた紙を掲げて抗議した。
証拠は体の中に
申請してもほとんど認められず、多くの人があきらめてきた。声を上げたくても上げられない人たちのためにも立ち上がった原告は、「最後まで闘う」と控訴審を見据えている。
２００４年、13年の最高裁判決は、国の認定基準より幅広い被害を認め、水俣病救済の門戸を広げてきた。熊本地裁判決は、最高裁判決から後退している。
国が何度も幕引きを図ろうとしてもできなかったのは、多くの被害者が放置されたままだからだ。
行政と司法は、「水俣病被害の真実は私たち一人ひとりの体の中に入っている。それが証拠だ」という原告の叫びに耳を傾けるべきだ。
英訳版↓
No.1256 Sixty-six Years after Official Certification
Minamata disease is one of the Four Big Pollution Diseases which the Japanese government designates as an illness attributable to the environmental hazards. On May 1 this year it is the 66th year from the official recognition of the disease in 1956. Until today, however, the entire damages have not been disclosed and judicial battles are going on in various regions, accusing the government and the enterprise, Chisso Corporation.
MINAMATA DISEASE STILL AGONIZES VICTIMS
Minamata disease was detected as a sickness among local people living in the vicinity of the Minamata Bay, the Shiranuikai Sea area, who complained numbness in the hands and feet and loss of peripheral vision: it was because they had eaten fish and shellfish grown in the bay to which the Chisso’s chemical plant had discharged wastewater polluted with methylmercury. The incident occurred in Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture.
Certification of patients of the disease is entrusted to the Examination Council of prefecture for legal procedures, relying on the law, the Compensation Act for Health Damages from Public Nuisances (implemented in 1974). And, usually, Governors recognize patients after receiving reports from the Council.
As of the end of February this year, 2,283 people were certified as patients of Minamata disease in both of the Kumamoto and Kagoshima Prefectures, with over 17 thousand applicants in total being removed from certification.
Irrational court judgement, again
Many of the excluded patients went to the court, requesting accreditation. Seven plaintiffs were dismissed March 30 at the Kumamoto District Court. The judgement was illegitimate as it agrees to goals of the government and the business entity.
The seven patients are male and female members of the association of mutual assistance, belonging to the same generation as the patients of congenital form of the disease. The Kumamoto District Court did not recognize them as a patient, saying ‘the signs and symptoms are not rationally explained as attributable to the methylmercury’ as far as the disorder of senses is concerned’. The plaintiffs have appealed.
These victims were born around the year 1956 when the disease was officially discovered and grew in the region. They live currently in Minamata City and Izumi City of Kagoshima Prefecture, being between 62 and 69 years of age.
They claimed that their mothers and themselves had eaten on the daily basis fish poisoned with methylmercury, the element of which was drained by the Chisso’s plant, and, thus, they had been affected during the phase of fetus and infantry. The plaintiffs requested cancellation of rejection of application for certification, seeking for right recognition of the disease pursuant to the Compensation Act for Health Damages from the Public Nuisances.
The seven people asked the two prefectural authorities for recognition between 2002 and 2005, but failed and sued in 2015. All their family members are certified patients or they are given a healthcare certificate as a victim. The plaintiffs and supporters have protested, showing their demands in the paper board, reading ‘An unjust court decision! Up to when will suffering last?’
Evidences seen in patients’ bodies
Many have applied for certification, but have given it up, as most of the applications have been left out of recognition. They wanted to raise the voices loudly, but they could not. The plaintiffs, knowing well about this reality, stood up courageously and appealed to the higher court, representing these people. They are ready to fight until the last moment.
The Supreme Court’s decisions of 2004 and 2013 admitted the broader category of damages than the state’s norms, more sympathetic to patients. But the verdict of Kumamoto Court pulls back from this horizon.
The state authorities have tried to close the lawsuit several times, but ended in vain, because sufferers have been left unprotected.
The administration and the judiciary must listen sincerely to the claim of plaintiffs; ‘you can find truths of Minamata disease in our proper bodies’.
May 4, 2022