Japan widens relief for mercury disaster victims

Japan passed a law Wednesday offering financial compensation to tens of thousands more victims of a mercury poisoning disaster in the 1950s


However, victims criticized the new law, which also splits up the company responsible for Japan's worst-ever industrial pollution case, as politicians continued to haggle over the amount of money victims would receive. The new law, which reduces the number of symptoms required for a patient to qualify for relief, is expected to pay an additional 20,000 victims out of an estimated 30,000 seeking compensation, the environment ministry said. The health disaster emerged in the 1950s in the small fishing town of Minamata on Kyushu island where chemical company Chisso Corp had for years dumped methyl mercury into a bay, poisoning fish and residents. Victims suffered spasms, seizures and loss of sensation and motor control that impaired their ability to walk and speak. Babies were born with nervous system damage and other mental and physical deformities. "The Minamata issue was where Japan's pollution and environment problems started," Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said. "We have been saying that it's important to solve the problem." But what was intended to lay to rest more than a half a century of grievances and legal battles only further embittered victims, who claimed that the bill serves to bury the company's responsibility. Chisso, which is headquartered in Tokyo and still operates in Minamata, will be split into two entities under the law -- one to oversee the payouts, and another to keep running the company's business operations. The parent company is scheduled to be liquidated once it completes the lump-sum payment for the compensation, which is expected to be gathered through sales of its subsidiary's shares, according to media reports. Hideo Ikoma, 51, who was born suffering from the effects of mercury, said Tokyo's decision to divide the firm was "unforgivable." "Every day has been a struggle between life and death," he said, pronouncing his words with difficulty. "Lawmakers think they can make the Minamata problem disappear by simply switching on their voting buttons. They have no clue what we endure." Ruling and opposition party lawmakers were meanwhile still debating the amount of compensation, with proposals ranging from 1.5 million to three million yen (15,500 to 31,100 dollars). The health problems in Minamata were first reported by a local hospital in 1956 but, although Chisso was immediately suspected, its management denied responsibility and the plant continued dumping mercury until 1968. The company was not officially blamed for the health problems until 1973. A court in 1988 found the then president of Chisso and then director of Chisso Minamata Factory guilty, but handed them suspended jail sentences. In 2004, the Supreme Court ruled that the Japanese government was partly responsible for not stopping the company from continuing to dump the toxic waste into the water. The recent law is the second government act since 1995, when Chisso was ordered to compensate 11,000 patients who had not previously been officially recognized as victims of the Minamata disaster.