*The New Minamata

The story takes place fifty years ago in Japan in a little village called Minamata Bay.

It started off slowly. The villagers first started noticing their cats wobbling around on the docks. They would randomly go into conniption fits, and keel over into the water. The villagers couldn't understand why, and named the phenomenon the Minamata Disease.

Scientists began to study the cats, and after thorough testing, they found that the felines had ingested high levels of mercury, and were exhibiting all the classic signs of mercury poisoning.

Unfortunately, the disease didn't stop at the cats. It began to affect the villagers as well. They contracted the poisoning from eating fish and shellfish from the bay, which had been contaminated from years of factory run off. The disease would affect their central nervous system, causing people to twitch and jerk around uncontrollably, inhibiting their speech and even causing death. Furthermore, pregnant women and their babies were highly susceptible to mercury poisoning, which led to a high number of severe birth defects. Needless to say eating from the bay was banned.

That was fifty years ago. Since then, the amount of mercury in our environment has increased dramatically due to worldwide industrial production and factory run off. In fact, the level of mercury found in Dolphins today is anywhere from 4 to 36 times higher than the Health Ministry's "safe level" of .04 parts per million.

Youji Kaneko, pictured above, suffers from fetal mercury poisoning and has to be cared for till this day. If this is the result of the Minamata Disease when the levels were dangerous then, imagine the potential consequences that could come from eating meat thats 35 times more contaminated! This very meat is being fed to Japanese citizens through school lunch programs and in supermarkets. Most are unaware of the dangerous levels of contaminants the meat contains.

This is more than an animal rights issue. The people of Japan must be informed.

SaveJapanDolphins.org is demanding that a warning label be placed on each and every package of dolphin meat, warning Japanese consumers of the serious health hazards associated with mercury consumption.

Help make a difference. Write a short, respectful letter to Ms. Seiko Noda, Japan's Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food Safety, and Science and Technology, and ask for her cooperation with this issue. Her email address is: seiko@noda-seiko.gr.jp

Make sure to CC The World Health Organization as well.

Dr. Maria NEIRA, Director

Department of Public Health and Environment

World Health Organization

Email: neiram@who.int