Minamata Bay, 1932

The author shows that the horrible symptoms of methylmercury poisoning have been well known to the general public, at least in Europe, since the 19th century, and he also points out that the dangers in the production using organic mercury has been common knowledge among professionals in the manufacturing field, long before the 7th of May 1932, when the Nihon Chisso Minamata Plant began to discharge effluents containing organic mercury into Minamata Bay, Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan.