Minamata: The horror.
Some things tell more about the human race than is comfortably faced. In popular modern culture Hitler is equated with ultimate evil. Many try to make Hitler a unique anomaly and avoid the truth of what Hitler’s person and deeds says about the entire human race. They forget there were many “Hitlers” before Hitler, and there have been many since.
What is worst about the Minamata horror is not the disease itself, (terrible as that is,) but the callous and complete disregard for human life demonstrated by the perpetrators of the problem. Knowing full well the suffering and death that resulted from their actions,
Chisso duly installed a Cyclator purification system on 19 December 1959, and opened it with a special ceremony. Chisso’s president Kiichi Yoshioka dared to drink a glass of water supposedly treated through the Cyclator to demonstrate that it was safe. In fact, the wastewater from the acetaldehyde plant, which the company knew still contained mercury and led to Minamata disease when fed to cats, was not treated through the Cyclator at the time. The stunt was an outright deception. Testimony at a later Niigata Minamata disease trial proved that Chisso knew the Cyclator to be completely ineffective: “…the purification tank was installed as a social solution and did nothing to remove organic mercury.”
Such is a demonstration of moral vacuum.
For a more information the reader is directed to Wikipedia’s article on Minamata disease.
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