The Environment Ministry plans to begin a health survey as early as this year of residents of coastal areas hit by the outbreak of Minamata mercury poisoning disease, which is caused by water pollution from industrial waste.
The survey on residents of the Shiranui Sea coast in Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures will be conducted for the first time under a special law that took effect in 2009 to provide relief for victims of the disease, which was officially recognized in the Kumamoto city of Minamata on May 1, 1956.
The law stipulates that the government swiftly assess the impact on health from methyl mercury, which causes the disease, and release its results. Discussions have been protracted, however, on methods to objectively evaluate the impact.
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