The Minamata Bay incident also known as the Minamata disease was the largest and most tragic case of industrial pollution to be recorded in history. In the late 1950’s, the consequences of dumping methylmercury into the ocean from the formation of acetaldehyde was not taken into account by the Japanese authorities of the Chisso Corporation chemical factory at that time. As a result, the methylmercury infected water was taken up by the marine life and caused major food poisoning when consumed by the Japanese people ranging from serious neurological diseases (Yorifuji et al., 2008), speech impairment and in some cases, death. The severity of the disease took its toll of up to thousands of innocent civilians and as a form of compensation, the officials responsible for the outbreak offered payments to the grief stricken families who were victims of the horrendous disease. The epidemic came into motion again in 1965, this time in the Agano River basin in Niigata causing the same symptoms as the previous outbreak but this time, the numbers of civilians affected were reduced greatly. It was recently reported in March 2001 that the official death toll of the disease was 1,785 with Chisso Corporation compensated $86 million for the families who were affected by the disease. In May 2006, a memorial service was held to mark 50 years of the discovery and the past left behind of the Minamata disease.
The aftermath of the Minamata disease had taken its toll on the Japanese people claiming many lives and rendering some of its victims permanently disabled. This is highlighted in the article titled “Minamata Disease” written by K. Murata and M. Sakamoto, published in the “Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, 2013”. The...
... middle of paper ...
...along Minamata Bay where all sorts of horrifying cases were exhibited such as neurological diseases, comas and in some cases, death.
Based on the cases discussed above from various authors, it is evident that the most tragic industrial pollution that is, Minamata Bay bears a dark story in history claiming many innocent lives where the methylmercury manifested in various forms, making it an environmental tragedy. Due to the ignorance and negligence of the officials responsible for the dumping of methyl mecury, symptoms such as impaired vision, loss of motor skill and mental retardation was exhibited to people that had very low illness history. The prevalence of this epidemic could have been haltered by the Japanese officials but failure to detect the poisoning at an early stage allowed the disease to manifests itself unto both the Japanese people and the ecosystem.
Morro Bay is a beachfront town in San Luis Obispo County, California. It is located along the central coast of California, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. According to the United States Census Bureau (n.d.), the 2010 census reported that Morro Bay had a population of 10,234. Moreover, the 2010 census reported that the total population was composed of 4.4% of persons under 5 years of age, 15.0% of persons under 18 years of age and 23.7% of persons 65 years of age and over. The top three industries in Morro Bay are: “transportation and warehousing; travel, hospitality and tourism; retail and wholesale trade” (Simply Hired n.d.). The companies offering the most jobs in Morro Bay are Gordon Trucking, Cedar Rapids Steel Transport Expedited, and Taco Bell. The per capita income in Morro Bay in 2010 was $31, 899 (Neighborhood Scout, n.d.). Education statistics represent the highest level of education achieved by residents in Morro Bay. In Morro Bay, 8% of residents 18 and over graduated from high school while 31% of residents accomplished a Bachelor’s
My research paper is on Dugway Proving Ground incident of 1969. The incident actually took place in March of 1968. What happened in 1969 was that President Nixon reaffirmed the “no first use, retaliate in kind” which became a national policy for the employment of chemical weapons. (Mauroni, Al, p. 33) The incident involved the killing of 6,000 sheep according to The Salt Lake Tribune. A deadly nerve agent known as VX had drifted off the reservation contaminating the sheep feeding area. The Army conducted investigations to show that they had nothing to do with the death of those sheep. At the end of the investigation it showed that they were not responsible for the incident. I am going to talk about the history of Dugway Proving Ground, and what cause the sheep to die. The people are blame the government for the death of the sheep, and the government is blaming ranchers. The government said the sheep died from the pesticides they sprayed to protect their crops.
When we were in history class all we were taught was how we got into World War 2, we would usually talk about Pearl Harbor and Japan, but what about Germany. None of our history teachers had talked about the USS Greer incident that had gotten Americans rallied up for war. So, what exactly happened on this “awful” day, September 4, 1941, that had brought America against Germany? No one truly knows, who started the attack that day. After reading a packet full of information about this day and how we Americans were manipulated by our “Great” President Roosevelt. After looking over some log information from both the USS Greer and Germany’s submarines, I had taken the route that the start of this whole incident was the fault of the British. If not for the British getting involved the way they had then maybe the German submarine would not have fired torpedoes. To get the American people rallied for war President Roosevelt had manipulated the American people by using polls and speaking to get fear and anger across the
Many people are unknowingly exposed to air pollution and have no idea. Some common causes of air pollution are automobiles, factories, landfills and toxic materials. Air pollution destroys the environment; it causes climate change because it greatly affects the greenhouse effect and it causes acid rain. Acid rain contaminates water and destroys animal’s homes. Air pollution has many effects on people it causes coughing, elevates your risk of asthma, wheezing, it can cause diseases and birth defects. It’s estimated “that seven million people died prematurely in 2012 from exposure to air pollution and that air pollution can cause cardiovascular diseases. The use of incinerators has caused protest movements from the Chinese citizens because they are becoming aware of the air pollution that is being given off from the burning of their trash and the effects it has on their health. There have been many reports of premature births and stillbirths of pregnant women that live near garbage incinerators”( Professional Safety, 2014, p.
These toxins are the beginnings of numerous illnesses and diseases that kill many people each year. While the Chesapeake Bay Foundation is making an effort to fix this problem, it is a difficult and costly task, and it will likely be a very long time before we see the bay in a good state.
Infamy: Pearl Harbor and its Aftermath was written by John Toland, an American author and historian. He was a graduate of Williams College in Massachusetts and attended Yale School of Drama, with his primary goal of becoming a playwright. Some of his most famous books were written about the World War II Era. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his book The Rising Sun, focusing on the history of Japan during WWII from the Japanese point of view, rather than the American side. He also wrote Adolph Hitler: A Definitive Biography and Battle: The Story of the Bulge. Many of his books focused on the military, so he was quite qualified to write this book.
Todays lecture was “Stitched Together: Workers, Students & the Movement for Alta Garcia”. There were two films shown. One was a short film focusing on the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the second film was on the Movement for Alta Garcia. The overall purpose of this presentation was to show and raise awareness to viewers. Working conditions are extremely punitive and must be put to an end. American Labor Unions and labor laws have also drastically changed overtime.
The history of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant began in 1968 with the construction of Unit 1 Reactor. Unit 2 Reactor went under construction the following year. Unit 1 was up and running in 1974 and four years later in 1978 Unit 2 was put into business. Unit 2 was practically new when a nuclear accident took place and ended the nuclear power production of TMI-2.
The following paper is about the Sultana Disaster in 1865. It describes the story of the disaster, includes a description of the ship, as well as ethics, the cause, results, and conclusion of the tragedy. Research includes online sources as well as a newspaper entry. Future work may include research of the aftermath and cleanup procedures of the disaster, as well as publicism throughout the U.S. Furthermore, research questions may address the structure of the ship’s boilers and other possible causes for the incident.
Critical Analysis on Pearl Harbor Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, America was very reluctant to become. involved in World War II, and believed that Hitler and his Nazis. party were Europe's problem. But on December 7th 1941, the views of all Americans changed as Admiral Yamamoto and his naval and air forces from the Empire of Japan, awoke the sleeping Island of Hawaii suddenly. and deliberately, with a relentless unprovoked attack on the U.S.A. navel base at Pearl Harbor.
One of the most famous pollution threats of the bay was the Oil Spill of 2007. A tanker hit the wall of the bay, and a total of 58,000 gallons of oil was spilt into the water of the San Francisco Bay Area. The spread of the oil was so severe that the governed of the States came to see the progress that he inducted during the cleanup. Initial investigation of the extent to which the spill had affected the ecosystem of the San Francisco Bay area took twelve hours. There are the different conclusion that was arrived at after the
Toxic substances not only affect the environment but also affect human health by accumulating in the body as well as many other organisms
In the morning of December 3, 1984 a tragic event occurred in the city of Bhopal, the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It has been known as the world's worst industrial disaster. A Union Carbide India, Limited (UCIL)'s plant released 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas which instantly killed over 3,000 people and carrying on causing the death of more than 20,000. This tragic event involved not only the technical, safety issues at the time, but also ethical issues on the responsibility of those who would have been able to prevent the tragedy from happening and those who denied or intentionally decreased the responsibility of causing it.
There was a multitude of causes of the disaster in Japan. The first cause was a 9.0 magnitude earthquake that occurred off the coast of Japan. Japan is located in “The Ring of Fire,” an area in the Pacific Ocean that has multiple faults and earthquakes (Pedersen 13). Tectonic plates shifted off the North Pacific coast of Japan and created a massive earthquake. The next cause was a thirty-three foot wall of water that swept over cities and farmland in Japan (Branigan 2). Martin Fackler, a journalist, stated, “The quake churned up a devastating tsunami” (Fackler 3). The tsunami reached speeds of 497 miles per hour while approaching Japan (Fackler 3). The third and final reason of the disaster was that the cooling systems at multiple nuclear power plants failed. At Fukushima, a nuclear power plant in Sendai, Japan, the radioactive rods began to overheat due to the absence of water, which cools it. Explosions occurred at three of the reactors, which spewed radiation into the air (“Comparing nuclear power plant crises”). In conclusion, the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant issues were the causes of the disaster in Japan, but they also had a myriad of effects.
On the 3rd of December 1984, a gas leakage incident happened in Bhopal, India. Methyl isocyanate(MIC), a deadly poisonous gas was accidentally leaked and spread into air from the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) plant. The leak was caused by large volume of water entering one of the MIC storage tanks in the underground. As a result temperature and pressure in tank continuously increased and the storage tank burst as a result of chemical reaction between the water and MIC. It spread in the air and over the nearby community. As a result the people inhaled the gas and got affected. The doctors also could not provide immediate treatment for the victims since UCIL provided only a little information regarding the composition of the poisonous gas leaked. Due to this incident 3,500 people were killed instantly; 20 thousand people were permanently disabled and more than 40 thousand people suffered from the injuries and chronic diseases due to the incident in long run.