Japan Press Weekly

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2012 July 4 - 10 [WELFARE]

Minamata disease victims call for relief without time limitation to submit application

Minamata disease sufferers and their supporters on July 3 demanded that the environment ministry withdraw its deadline for submission of applications for state benefits from yet-to-be certified patients and that the compensation of the disease be provided to whoever deserves it.

The Law Concerning Special Measures for Compensation of Minamata Disease decrees that an one-time allowance and medical subsidy be provided to those who have symptoms of the disease but are not certified by the Law Concerning Compensation and Prevention of Pollution-Related Health Damage. On February this year, the environment ministry announced that the deadline for applications is July 31, and immediately met with opposition by sufferers’ groups.

At a meeting with ministry officials, secretary general of a victims’ group Harada Toshio pointed out that they examined 1,394 residents in and around Minamata City last month, and found that 1,216 (87%) had tactile impairments characteristic of Minamata disease. “There are so many potential victims left. It’s too early to impose the submission deadline at the end of this month,” Harada stated.

“You demand an extension of the deadline, but how many years should we have to wait?” a governmental official said, avoiding a definite commitment to extend the deadline.

“We are not talking about how many years are long enough,” said Yamada Sachiko, vice-chair of a Minamata disease sufferers’ organization in Niigata, and argued that the door should be kept open indefinitely for the sake of those who may need relief at some point in the future.

After that, activists staged a sit-in protest in front of the Diet building and carried out representations to assembly members. Around 70 people from Kumamoto, Niigata and Tokyo participated in the action. They plan to hold all-day sit-ins on nine separate occasions.

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The next day, the patients’ groups visited the Japanese Communist Party headquarters and met Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi to obtain cooperation from the party. “Justice is on your side. We the JCP will do our best to help you,” Ichida replied.

On July 5 at the Diet building the victims held a meeting in which 71 people, including assembly members of the JCP, Liberal Democratic, Social Democratic and Your parties participated. JCP Lower House member Akamine Seiken said, “To reach an overall settlement, the government should reconsider the setting of a deadline and conduct a medical survey to obtain a comprehensive picture of the extent of adverse health effects.”