Summary of recent studies in Japan on methyl mercury poisoning

Kojima, Kohei; Fujita, Masahiko

doi:10.1016/0300-483x(73)90017-6

Cited by 58 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…One of the earliest and most extensively documented cases of mercury poisoning occurred in the 1950's at Minamata Bay, in southwestern Kyushu, Japan--especially among fishermen and their families (Fujiki 1963(Fujiki , 1980Irukayama 1967;Matida and Kumada 1969;Kojima and Fujita 1973;NAS 1978;Elhassani 1983;Nishimura and Kumagai 1983;Doi et al 1984). The source of the mercury was in waste discharged from an acetaldehyde plant that used inorganic Hg as a catalyst; between 1932 and 1968, Minamata Bay received at least 260 tons of mercury, and perhaps as much as 600 tons.…”

Section: Mercury In Minamata Japanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury Exposure in Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) Admitted for Rehabilitation in Iowa, USA

Blanchong

Reiter-Marolf

Dinsmore

2017

Journal of Wildlife Diseases

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Section: Mercury In Minamata Japanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury Exposure in Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) Admitted for Rehabilitation in Iowa, USA

Blanchong

Reiter-Marolf

Dinsmore

2017

Journal of Wildlife Diseases

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“…Some newborn infants had 20 to 30 percent more mercury in their blood corpuscles than the mother had in hers (Kojima and Fujita 1973, Japan Times 1972, Tejning 1968a, 1968b. Levels in the mother's blood and urine increased immediately after delivery.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Levels in the mother's blood and urine increased immediately after delivery. Mercury could also be passed tothe infants through their mothers' milk, but no babies contracted Minamata Disease while at their mothers' breasts, and later poisonings were often less severe than the congenital cases (Kojima and Fujita 1973). Because the fetuses absorbed the mercury, some women had no symptoms other than elevated hair levels.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…As they became blind and deaf, sometimes their joints bent and stiffened into irregular positions so the Japanese called them "living wooden dolls." Many of them had elevated blood sugar levels that indicated diabetes mellitus and changes in Langerhan's islet cells in the pancreas (Kojima and Fujita 1973). At the terminal stage they became comatose and then died.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mercury contamination: A human tragedy

D'ltri

1978

Environmental Management

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/ Historically, the element, mercury, has been wide yapped in industry, agriculture, and medicine. The role of mercury in technological progress and therapeutic benefits has generally been quickly accepted despite sketchy trialand-error methods used to evaluate its overall impact. The discovery of the negative side effects of mercury, such as degradation of the environment and the accompanying threat to human health, has often been overlooked, sometimes for centuries. Mercury Contamination: A Human Tragedy (Wiley-lnterscience 1977) describes both historical and current applications of quicksilver, the impact on human beings and the environment, and the social &nd legal efforts to reform the abuses. The following exerpts are taken from the impact of mercury on human beings and the environment in various parts of the world.

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“…Although the most severe toxicity was apparently due to prenatal methylmercury exposure, poisoning cases in Minamata were also documented in infants who had been exposed to methylmercury only after birth (1). In Iraq, human milk was the suspected source of methylmercury exposure of several poisoned infants (2).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Milk as a Source of Methylmercury Exposure in Infants.

Grandjean¹,

Pj²,

Weihe³

1994

Environ Health Perspect

103

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As methylmercury is excreted in human milk and infants are particularly susceptible to toxicity due to this compound, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the possible transfer of methylmercury to infants via breast-feeding. In a community with a high intake of seafood, 583 children from a birth cohort were followed. The duration of nursing was recorded, and hair samples were obtained for mercury analysis at approximately 12 months of age. The hair mercury concentrations increased with the length of the nursing period, and those nursed throughout the first year showed the highest geometric mean (9.0 nmol/g or 1.8 microg/g). Human milk therefore seems to be an important source of methylmercury exposure in infants. An increasing time interval from weaning to hair sample collection was not associated with any detectable decrease in mercury concentrations. A slow or absent elimination of methylmercury during the first year after birth could explain this finding. In certain fishing communities, infants nursed for long periods may be at increased risk of developing methylmercury toxicity. Images p74-a Figure 1. Figure 2.

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Summary of recent studies in Japan on methyl mercury poisoning

Cited by 58 publications

References 24 publications

Mercury Exposure in Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) Admitted for Rehabilitation in Iowa, USA

Mercury Exposure in Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) Admitted for Rehabilitation in Iowa, USA

Mercury contamination: A human tragedy

Human Milk as a Source of Methylmercury Exposure in Infants.

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