IISD/ENB - Kiara WorthNo More Minamatas
Global mercury emissions have risen by a staggering 20% over the last 5 years with no reduction insight. If we are going to curb mercury pollution, we must end the global mercury trade.
What happened in Minamata?

Were the victims recognized and compensated?

For thirty years, the chemical company Chisso Corporation
negligently dumped its mercury-laden wastewater into
the Minamata Bay of Japan. Many people in communities
surrounding the bay became ill with unusual neurologicalsymptoms. As the mercury became bioavailable, fish became contaminated with mercury, thus poisoning people,
who relied on a fish protein
diet. Minamata disease was
not officially recognized to becaused by industrial pollution
from methyl mercury until
1968. Victims organized toforce Chisso and the government to take responsibility forthis massive environmental
health catastrophe. The photojournalism of Eugene andAileen Smith intimately captured the tragedy and brought
global attention to the industrial crime and the impacted
families when the photos were published in LIFE magazine
in 1972 and as the book MINAMATA in 1975.

Surviving victims of mercury poisoning from Minamata Bay are alive today. Many people were affected when
they were developing in utero and their mothers ate mercury contaminated fish. Most of the 200,000 people living in the polluted area at the peak of the pollution were
never recognized by the government and many not havereceived compensation, despite having symptoms. It
has now been 64 years since
the official discovery of
Minamata disease, but government authorities still refuse to undertake a healthsurvey. Multiple lawsuits areongoing, with victims fighting for recognition and relief. Victims and supporters arenegotiating intensely with the Minister of the Environment to end Japanese government stonewalling andare promoting international efforts at the UN to prevent
more Minamatas.

The Fossil Fuel and Gold
Industries are the Leading
Industrial Polluters of Mercury

The struggle for justice in Minamata and the struggle of communities
around the world against polluting industries continues today.

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W. Eugene Smith and Aileen M. Smith

Effects of Mercury Pollution
Mercury is a persistent and highly toxic substance. It isso toxic in fact that mercury exposure can cause severe
brain damage, kidney and cardiovascular system damage,and even death at very low levels. Just 1 part per million(ppm) of mercury exposure is associated with a 0.18 decrease in IQ level. The most dramatic harm takes placewhen expectant mothers are exposed to mercury, because
mercury’s most potent neurological impacts occur during
fetal development.

What are the greatest threats of
Mercury Pollution today?
The fossil fuel industry and gold industry are among theleading industrial polluters of mercury. Here are the top
threats of mercury pollution and exposure:

How is Mercury Pollution connected to thecurrent Climate Crisis?
Mercury from coal-fired power plants is a pollution twin togreenhouse gases. Mercury in coal ore is vaporized as coalburns. Atmospheric mercury travels over long distances
before falling back to earth. Often it falls into oceans wherebacteria transform it into highly toxic methylmercury.
Methylmercury moves up the food chain and biomagnifies
as larger fish eat smaller ones. Mercury contamination infish has forced health agencies to issue advisories for fishconsumption—especially for pregnant women. Women
living in areas dependent on a diet high in fish protein,such as the people of many small island nations, have higher levels of mercury in their bodies—levels that can affectfetal development. Mercury deposits are also frozen in thearctic permafrost. As the planet heats up, unsustainableamounts of mercury will be released into the atmosphere.

Artisanal Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM):
Gold mining with mercury is an extremely hazardous process that sickens miners, their families and communities, and deprives their children of a future. Miners use mercury to extract
gold from the soil, and it is often women whomix mercury with ore and then burn amalgams
in their kitchens or yards. The mercury vapor released when an amalgam is heated (separating
the mercury from gold) is highly toxic. According
to the United Nations Environment Agency, approximately 15 million people in over 70 countries engage in small-scale gold mining for theirlivelihood—practices that mainly use mercury.
Local Contaminated Industrial Sites, including chlor-alkali plants (industrial chlorine production), release mercury to soil, water, and air.

Larry C. Price, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

Coal-fired Power Plants: The fossil fuel industry is responsible for climate change as well as
mercury pollution. In addition to greenhousegases, coal-fired power plants release mercury-laden emissions into the air that contaminate
water ways and oceans, and accumulate in fish.
Oil and gas extraction facilities and refineries
likewise release mercury pollution into the air,land, and oceans.

ASGM communities suffer the impacts of mercury pollution today.

How Can We End Mercury Pollution?
The Minamata Convention on Mercury entered into force
in 2017. Ratified by 114 countries, including the US, thetreaty was intended to reduce globally rising levels of mercury pollution to protect human health and the environment. Unfortunately, far from shrinking toxic mercury,
global mercury emissions have risen by a staggering 20%
over the last 5 years with no reduction in sight.
Extensive lobbying by powerful energy and gold industry
groups weakened the treaty. To end mercury we must
curb coal-fired power and ban global mercury trade.

#ToxicsFree • www.ipen.org

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