## Table 5-7-3: Timeline of Key Events related to Minamata Disease

May	1956	Minamata disease was officially acknowledged.
March	1959	Two laws concerning water quality and regulation came into force.
May	1965	Niigata Minamata disease was officially acknowledged.
June	1967	The first lawsuit was filed by Niigata Minamata disease victims. (The plaintiff won the case in September 1971 (final verdict).)
September	1968	The Ministry of Health and Welfare and Technology Agency announced their collective view that Minamata disease was caused by methyl mercury compounds discharged from Chisso Co., Ltd. and Showa Denko Co., Ltd.
June	1969	The first lawsuit of Kumamoto Minamata disease was filed. (The plaintiff won the case in March 1973 (final verdict).)
December	1969	Law concerning the Relief of Pollution-related Health Damage came into force.
July	1973	Compensation agreement was concluded between Chisso and litigation group patients. (Compensation agreement between Showa Denko and patients was concluded in June of the same year.)
September	1974	Law concerning Compensation and Prevention of Pollution-related Health Damages came into force.
November	1991	Central Council for Environmental Pollution Control submitted a report, “Desirable Relief Programs to Be Implemented in the Future for Minamata Disease Patients”.
September	1995	Three ruling parties finalized the report, “Political Settlement of Minamata Disease”. (Final Remedies)
December	1995	“Countermeasures of Minamata Disease” was adopted by the Cabinet.
May	1996	Ten pending lawsuits for state redress were withdrawn (except the Kansai lawsuit).
October	2004	The Supreme Court handed down the final verdict over the Kansai lawsuit. (The final verdict held the national government and Kumamoto prefectural government responsible.)
April	2005	Ministry of the Environment announced “Future Minamata Disease Countermeasures”.
May	2005	40th anniversary of official acknowledgment of Niigata Minamata disease
May	2006	50th anniversary of official acknowledgement of Minamata disease

Source: Ministry of the Environment

### b. Asbestos-caused health damages

As of the end of FY2006, the government has received a total of 3,925 applications for relief benefits under the Act on Asbestos Health Damage Relief, of which 2,389 were officially certified for the benefits, 281 were not certified and 387 were withdrawn.

## (5) Making progress with environmental education and education for sustainable development

In accordance with the Law concerning the Enhancement of Willingness for Environmental Conservation and Promotion of Environmental Education and the basic policy based on the Law, the program for promoting the utilization of outside human resources, such as specialists from non-profit organizations, has been carried out, where those specialists teach at classes for integrated study at schools. Projects using those outside specialists are to be registered, and the information on those registered projects is released to the public through the Internet. To promote “the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development,” three key programs in the early stage of the Decade in Japan, including dissemination of the concept of ESD, implementation in communities, and programs at higher education, have been carried out, based on Japan’s Action Plan of the Decade.

## (6) Efforts for achieving a more environmentally friendly socioeconomic structure

Another idea is to impose economic costs in an attempt to reduce environmental burdens. Possible policy approaches would include suppressing waste generation as well as controlling carbon dioxide emissions to prevent global warming. To identify appropriate policy approaches, the government conducted a research project to survey and collect data on foreign best practices and examine possible positive effects that these policies would have on environmental conservation or the national economy.

The “Law Concerning the Promotion of Procurement of Eco-Friendly Goods and Services by the State and Other Entities” aims at encouraging a demand shift to eco-friendly goods (goods and services with low environmental loads) by promoting procurement of eco-friendly goods in the public sector (the national government, independent administrative institutes, and public organizations) and actively providing environmental information. In line with these basic policies, the national government and other public sector organizations established their FY2006 eco-friendly goods procurement plans and promoted procurement of eco-friendly goods based on their own plans.

In response to the recent tendency of increased emphasis of corporate social responsibilities in promoting environmental protection, the Meeting for Promoting the Awareness on the issue of Environment and Finance was organized in April 2006, where a report “Toward the Increase of the Environmentally Conscious Money Flow” was issued.

The estimated size of the market and the employment of environmental businesses in Japan as of 2005 is about 44.1 trillion yen.