Minamata

W. Eugene Smith
Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath
Minamata, 1972



The Minamata Incident

"The benefits of a diet rich in fish outweigh risks of mercury poisoning, say researchers who studied the children of mothers exposed to methyl mercury during pregnancy. The researchers are calling for action from policy makers. Methyl mercury bioaccumulates in fish and is a neurotoxin, causing schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disease. The worst known incident of widespread mercury poisoning was seen in Minamata Bay, Japan. Those most affected were unborn children of women who were pregnant at the time of the poisoning

This photo, by William Eugene Smith, shows 'an outwardly healthy mother bathing her foetal-poisoned 16 year old daughter, Tomoko Uemura, physically crippled since birth due to environmental industrial mercury poisoning in the local Minamata, Japan, water supply'. www.hamline.edu/personal/amurphy01/ es110/eswebsite/Projects Spring03/ebarker/Minamata%20Web%20Page.htm

684 people suffered mercury poisoning, 115 died from this terrible incident."

This article was taken from:
http://www.recycleworld.co.uk/RW-MercuryFacts.htm