The judgment is a damning indictment of the Japanese medical profession, which stubbornly clung to the discredited remedies because of external pressure and the desire to protect its own profits. But the judgment is bound to prompt a cascade of similar payouts. Almost 800 sufferers are pursuing lawsuits through the Japanese court system, all along the same lines as the Kumamoto claim. But the money will do little to ease the pain. A Tokyo-based foundation revealed this week that very few of the former leprosy patients want to return to society.
Fear is a primary motivation.
The spread of contaminated water from the now defunct Chisso plant in Tokyo Bay became a haunting symbol of the downside to Japan's remarkable post-war economic growth. Minamata killed hundreds, left thousands seriously ill and is responsible for continuing birth defects. The court ordered the state, the Kumamoto Prefectural Government and the company that operated the plant to pay 20 Minamata victims 320 million yen in damages.