Minamata disease
Minamata disease attracted global attention in 1972 during the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm. The official report presented to the Conference by the Japanese government did not mention the disease at all; this lack of honesty resulted in a second report being put together by Japanese citizens. Minamata disease patients were sent to Stockholm to hand in the citizens' report. Evidence of the misery caused by heavy environmental pollution revealed the downside of Japan's post-war rapid economic development to global public.