April 12 & 17, 2012
Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi on April 16 urged the government to withdraw its July 31 deadline for submission of applications for state benefits from yet-to-be certified Minamata disease patients.
At a press conference in the Kumamoto prefectural government office, Ichida also demanded that Vice Environment Minister Yokomitsu Katsuhiko retract the remarks he made during a meeting with Minamata victims’ group on April 8, where he said that local doctors’ efforts after the planned deadline to find uncertified Minamata patients and help them receive public support may be “troublesome.”
“The remark shows his intent to abandon the victims and is absolutely outrageous,” Ichida said and he urged the vice minister to apologize for what he said.
Minamata disease, first discovered in 1956, was caused by the release of mercury in the industrial wastewater from Chisso Corporation’s chemical factory into Minamata Bay in Kumamoto.
The JCP representative announced that his party will make the following urgent request to the government: stop placing restrictions on Minamata disease patients eligible for state redress based on where they reside and when they were born (till November 1969); drastically revise its criteria in certifying patients; and carry out research on residents’ health conditions and the environment in order to reveal the whole picture of the devastation brought on by the environmental pollution.
On April 11, a group of doctors expressed their opinions in protest against Vice Minister Yokomitsu’s remark at a press conference in Minamata City.
They plan to hold a health survey of about 1,500 residents on June 24 in Kumamoto and in the neighboring prefecture of Kagoshima.
“While being responsible for causing Minamata disease, the government fails to conduct research on the damage, forces victims to keep silent, and tries to draw a curtain on the issue,” said doctor Fujino Tadashi. He added that there are 68,000 Minamata patients and at least more than 10,000 potential victims.
Doctor Takaoka Shigeru said, “Health checkups conducted by doctors have helped revealed the extent of the damage. I don’t understand why the vice minister takes such a hostile view of such efforts.”
At a press conference in the Kumamoto prefectural government office, Ichida also demanded that Vice Environment Minister Yokomitsu Katsuhiko retract the remarks he made during a meeting with Minamata victims’ group on April 8, where he said that local doctors’ efforts after the planned deadline to find uncertified Minamata patients and help them receive public support may be “troublesome.”
“The remark shows his intent to abandon the victims and is absolutely outrageous,” Ichida said and he urged the vice minister to apologize for what he said.
Minamata disease, first discovered in 1956, was caused by the release of mercury in the industrial wastewater from Chisso Corporation’s chemical factory into Minamata Bay in Kumamoto.
The JCP representative announced that his party will make the following urgent request to the government: stop placing restrictions on Minamata disease patients eligible for state redress based on where they reside and when they were born (till November 1969); drastically revise its criteria in certifying patients; and carry out research on residents’ health conditions and the environment in order to reveal the whole picture of the devastation brought on by the environmental pollution.
On April 11, a group of doctors expressed their opinions in protest against Vice Minister Yokomitsu’s remark at a press conference in Minamata City.
They plan to hold a health survey of about 1,500 residents on June 24 in Kumamoto and in the neighboring prefecture of Kagoshima.
“While being responsible for causing Minamata disease, the government fails to conduct research on the damage, forces victims to keep silent, and tries to draw a curtain on the issue,” said doctor Fujino Tadashi. He added that there are 68,000 Minamata patients and at least more than 10,000 potential victims.
Doctor Takaoka Shigeru said, “Health checkups conducted by doctors have helped revealed the extent of the damage. I don’t understand why the vice minister takes such a hostile view of such efforts.”
