Documents Yorifuji, Takashi 2 results

"We present the history of Minamata disease in a chronological order from the public health point of view. Because the appropriate public health response - to investigate and control the outbreak - as set out in the Food Sanitation Act was not conducted, no one knew how many became ill following the outbreak. Exposure could not be stopped. In our discussion, we offer two reasons as to why the Japanese public health agencies did not apply the Act: social circumstances in the 1950s and 1960s that placed emphasis on industrial development, and the Japanese medical community's lack of knowledge about the Act. The history of Minamata disease shows us the consequences when public health responses are not implemented. Minamata disease should be an invaluable lesson for future public health responses."

"We investigated whether individuals exposed to asbestos by living near an asbestos-manufacturing facility experienced increased lung cancer mortality. We studied a neighborhood around such a plant in the central Japanese city of Hashima. From 1943 to 1991 this plant produced insulation and packing material using amosite- and chrysotile-type asbestos fibers. The study group was comprised of 577 households. We obtained demographic information by a questionnaire and determined the underlying cause of death for deceased household members from death certificates. Using hourly meteorological data from local observatories, we estimated relative asbestos concentrations in the plant's vicinity, determined the quartile boundaries, and designated each study subject's quartile of ambient exposure. Finally, we calculated standardized mortality ratios to evaluate the association of residential asbestos with lung cancer risk. Our findings strongly suggest that neighborhood asbestos exposure can increase the risk of lung cancer mortality in men and probably in women."