Minamata Bay, Japan Mercury Disaster Group 5: Angela, Brett, Shelley, Stephanie, Kwabena

1. Minamata Bay, Japan Mercury DisasterGroup 5: Angela, Brett, Shelley, Stephanie, & Kwabena

2. Mercury Mercury is a metal that is naturally formed in areas of hot springs and volcanic regions It is extracted by passing a current of air and condensing the vapor over the rocks as the rocks are being heated

3. Household Sources of Mercury Fluorescent bulbs Batteries Thermometers Medical products Thermostats Auto Parts

4. Industrial purposes Mercury catalyst is used to produce acetaldehyde The catalyst is stable at high temperatures Ziegler-Natta catalyst is used in place of mercury Contains titanium compounds and organometallic aluminum compounds

5. Methyl Mercury Is a form of organic mercury Formed when mercury in combined with carbon Is soluble in lipids Allowing it to cross into the placenta and blood brain barrier Absorbed into the body via the digestive tract

6. Minamata, Japan Mercury Poisoning Disaster The Minamata Disaster was more of an on going mass poisoning than a single catastrophe. It was caused by the Chisso Corparation in the city of Minamata on Kyushu Island, Japan. They dumped organic mercury off the coast of Minamata for over 3 decades. There have been over 3,000 victims. Many of them lost their lives and others suffered from physical deformities.

7. Disaster Continued The Chisso Corparation was the most successful chemical business in Japan after WWII. In 1932 Chisso was manufacturing plastics, drugs, and perfumes by using acetaldehyde as their main component. Acetaldehyde was made with mercury sulfate that created a byproduct of organic mercury. From 1932 to 1968 the Chisso Corporation dumped an estimated 27 tons of mercury compounds into Minamata Bay .

8. Disaster Continued Chisso knew the mercury they were dumping was contaminating the water, but did nothing. The poisoned waters created a ripple effect; killing marine life, birds, domestic animals and humans. Villagers that complained were measly compensated or threatened. The Chisso Corporation stopped poisoning the waters in 1968 only when the method of mercury production became outdated.

9. Disaster Continued The Chisso Corporation remains a successful business, making liquid crystal used for LCD displays. Due to boycotts by surviving villagers, Chisso had to pay over $150 million in compensation. Still all the victims have not received full retribution and are still suing.

12. Major Sources of Contamination Isolated cases - Minamata Bay, Japan Deposition from atmosphere via rainfall Anthropogenic sources (fossil fuels) account for ~25% overall Hg emissions in atmosphere Anthropogenic sources account for 50%-75% of the total yearly input of of Hg in the atmosphere

13. Fate of Mercury 3 forms of mercury Ionic mercury (Hg2+) Methylmercury Elemental mercury (Hg0) Contributing factors DOC (dissolved organic compounds) Acidity High DOC and/or high acidity enhances mercury mobility. It is more likely to enter the food chain.High DOC and/or high acidity enhances mercury mobility. It is more likely to enter the food chain.

14. Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism takes up contaminants more quickly that it eliminates them Biomagnification is an incremental increase in the concentration of a contaminant at each level of the food chain

15. Mercury in the Environment Natural Mercury Sources Volcanoes Natural mercury deposits Volatilization from the ocean Human-related sources Coal combustion Chlorine alkali processing Waste incineration Metal processing Food chain Mercury taken up by bacteria that process sulfate to produce methylmercury Mechanism unknown

16. Initial Hazards The town of Minamata and the surrounding areas depended heavily on the fish and various marine life from the Minamata Bay for their lively hood. After prolonged exposure to the toxins (mercury) in the water and fish meat, the community started noticing that people were coming down with a “strange disease”.

17. Levels of Mercury Marine Life in the Minamata Bay Recorded to have levels of mercury in the range of 5.61ppm – 35.7ppm Human Population of Minamata Bay Recorded to have levels of mercury at max 705ppm Normal Mercury levels ~2ppm

18. Methyl Mercury Inhibits Proteins Disrupts Mitochondria Function Neurotransmitters Directly affects Ion exchange in neurons Destroys Structural framework of neurons

19. Signs and Symptoms Victims were diagnosed with a degenerative nerve condition. Signs included: Numbness of the limbs and lips Slurred speech and blurred vision Brain damage Loss of consciousness Involuntary movements Symptoms of Turrets Syndrome (uncontrolled shouting) Physical Deformities

20. Non-Human Occurrences Most obvious impact was on the water and marine life of the Minamata Bay area being unusable for drinking and eating. Residence of the area noted cats going insane and “committing suicide”. Birds were becoming intoxicated with the Mercury and “dropping from the sky”

21. Totals By 1974, 798 people has be diagnosed with “Minamata Disease”, only 5 years after the Chisoo Plant stopped polluting the waters. At that time, there were 3,000 more individuals that were waiting for a diagnosis with similar symptoms. 2,995 afflicted on record 1,784 dead 16,289 unrecognized claimants possibly two million damaged in some way by the neurological disorder

22. Images Continued

23. Remedial Project 1932 to 1968 - estimated 27 tons of mercury dumped into the bay 1975 – Minister for Transport, Director General of the Environmental Agency, and Director of Kumamoto Prefecture reached agreement on cleanup of Minamata Bay and Yatsushiro Sea Project commenced in 1977 and was completed in 1990 1.5 million m3 of mercury contaminated sediment were treated by careful dredging and confined reclamation 2 million m2 in Minamata Bay was decontaminated Environmentalists claimed in 1991 that natural forces should have the area clean by 2011, (no accurate data currently available) Longer life span of the biota

24. Dredging (4) cutterless hydraulic dredging ships w/ suction heads, turbidity meters and cameras were used Minimize resuspension of sediment (dissolution of Hg) Mercury was contained in the upper thin layer of sediment in the bay, whereas a 50 cm-thick layer of sediment was dredged from the inner part of the bay Density of mercury (13.534 ?g·cm3) allowed for separation in the ship’s hull

25. Dredging Dredged material discharged into reclamation area up to sea level and covered w/ geotextiles (permeable fabrics that are used to separate, filter, reinforce, protect, and contain) Lightweight volcanic ash and good soil placed over the geotextile Effluent discharged back to sea could not contain more than 0.05 ppm of Hg Dredging successfully completed in Dec. of 1987

27. Remediation alternatives Phytoremediation technologies Hg-resistant bacteria have been reported to produce enzymes that catalyze 2 rxns Organomercurial lyase – removes methyl group from mercury to create ionic mercury Mercuric ion reductase - converts ionic Hg to volatile elemental mercury Plants engineered to express these genes could have potential for relatively inexpensive cleanup of Hg contaminated sites Volatilization of elemental Hg would allow Hg to diffuse out of the plant and into the atm at diffuse and non-toxic concentration

28. Detoxification of Mercury Elemental Mercury (Hgo)is non-toxic Methanogens breakdown CH3Hg+ to form Hgo CH3Hg+ -----> CH4 + Hgo Exposure to ultra-violet rays is another method to breakdown methyl mercury Sunlight will breakdown CH3Hg+ to form Hgo

30. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=7734058&dopt=Citation http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/072098/tec_124-5932.shtml http://www.springerlink.com/content/m48n74743m476421/ http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/reduce/epr/products/mercury.htm http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/merc.html http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~mgonzalez/Micro521/24.html http://www.usgs.gov/themes/factsheet/146-00/

31. "TED case studies Minamata Disaster." Mercury Exposure. 11 Jan 1997. American University, The School of International Service. 17 Nov 2007 <www.american.edu/TED/MINAMATA.HTM>. 1st page pictures http://www.hgtech.com/Information/Minamata%20Japan.htm http://aileenarchive.or.jp/aileenarchive_en/index.html#TOP 2nd page pictures http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Methylmercury-cation-3D-vdW.png http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Acetaldehyde-3D-balls.png 3rd page pictures http://www.genetics.uga.edu/rbmlab/images/mercycle.gif http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Minamata_protesters.jpg

32. Sources U. S. Department of the Interior-U.S. Geological Survey. “Mercury Contamination of Aquatic Ecosystems.” http://wi.water.usgs.gov/pubs/FS-216-95/mercury.pg1.pdf (p. 1-4). Committee on the Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury. Toxicologyical Effects of Methylmercury. National Academy Press: Washington, D.C. 2000.

33. References Lee, J (1997,1,11). Minamata Disaster. TED Study Case, Retrieved November 12, 2007, from http://www.american.edu/TED/MINAMATA.HTM Reed , C (2006, April, 28). 50 years later, victims of Minamata Disease still fight for justice. New America Media, Retrieved November 14, 2007, from http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bhopal.net/otherbhopals/archives/smith_minimata.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bhopal.net/otherbhopals/archives/2006/04/50_years_later.html&h=303&w=450&sz=82&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=4K9STvBSkf_STM:&tbnh=86&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dminamata%2Bdisease%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dn%26rls%3DTSHA,TSHA:2005-45,TSHA:en