In Japan, the contamination by bacteria is rare because the bacteria contaminat
ion is well-regulated. The remaining four factors are the issues to be consider
ed. In case of the de-veloping countries, however, the issue of the bacteria wa
s at the top of the priority list in regulating the contamination.
So let me move on with my third topic, which is the water and industrialization
. The sec-ond category of contaminants are related to inorganic chemicals and h
eavy metals, which include cyanide, mercury, Iead, chromium, cadmium, arsenic,
selenium, fluorides, and nitrates. Among them, mercury in Japan was the symboli
c contaminant in the past history. As you are well aware of, in the Minamata re
gion of Kyushu Island, the Minamata dis-ease was triggered by mercury, which ve
rified how much mercury can damage the health of the people. This knowledge has
been proliferated worldwide.
The first patient of the Minamata Disease was reported in 1956. Following that,
in 1959 it has been assumed as one explanation that the mercury should be the
cause of that dis-ease. In 1963, it was determined that organic mercury, namely
methyl mercury, should be
