Kirk here with an update about Minamata disease. I think I wrote earlier that Minister Ito finally promised to start health surveys in a couple years. (Amazingly, a proper health survey of affected areas has never been undertaken; we only know about the people who have come forward on their own.) The first line of this article points to an even more serious issue – the refusal of the government to relax the certification criteria:
“The environment minister dashed the hopes of uncertified Minamata disease patients by saying the government has no plans to review standards for recognizing sufferers of the mercury poisoning case.”
