minamata disease was caused by mercury contamination
Minamata disease is a form of methyl mercury poisoning caused by eating large. quantities of fish and shellfish polluted by methyl mercury in factory wastewater. It. is not a contagious disease transmitted through air or food, and it is not inherited. Minamata disease was officially discovered in 1956, and in 1968 the national govern-. ment announced that it was a pollution disease caused by the Chisso Co., Ltd. The methyl mercury that enters the body mainly attacks the central nervous.