ID :
119770
Sun, 05/02/2010 - 10:13
Auther :

Memorial service held for Minamata disease victims+

KUMAMOTO, Japan, May 1 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama attended on Saturday an annual memorial service
for the victims of Minamata mercury-poisoning disease in Minamata, Kumamoto
Prefecture, and apologized for the government not being able to prevent the
spread of the disease in Japan's worst industrial pollution case.
''As a representative of the government, I admit responsibility...for not being
able to prevent the disease from spreading and offer my most sincere apology,''
Hatoyama, who became the first premier to take part in the event since the
memorial service was launched in 1992, said in a speech.
About 1,100 people attended the event, which commemorates official recognition
of the disease on May 1, 1956. They included disease sufferers, as well as
Environment Minister Sakihito Ozawa and Shunkichi Goto, chairman of chemical
maker Chisso Corp., which dumped mercury-tainted water into the sea, causing
the disease.
Rimiko Yoshinaga, 58, and Emiko Maeda, 56, who represented the patients and
bereaved families, told the attendees, ''We hope a day will come when many
people will visit Minamata to learn experiences.''
Last month, the government adopted redress measures for unrecognized Minamata
disease sufferers, featuring 2.1 million yen in lump-sum payments and 12,900 to
17,700 yen in monthly medical allowances per person.
The government started accepting applications Saturday.
It will be the largest settlement since a rescue package was compiled in 1995
by the government for unrecognized sufferers of Minamata disease.
''I don't think at all that (the adoption of redress measures) marks an end to
the issue,'' Hatoyama said.
He said Japan will keep making efforts in promoting medical care and welfare
for those suffering from the fetal Minamata disease, as well as warming of ties
in local communities and tell the world what it has learned from the incident.
He also expressed hope Japan will actively contribute to creating an
international treaty for preventing such mercury poisoning and naming the
treaty the ''Minamata treaty.''
On the attendance of Hatoyama, Toshio Onoue, 72, who represents a patients'
group in Izumi, Kagoshima Prefecture, said, ''It will stay in my mind. I hope
to tell the victims to rest in peace.''
However, Toshio Oishi, 69, heading another patients' group in Minamata,
criticized the premier, who left the city immediately after attending the
ceremony. ''I appreciate his attendance, but I hoped he would have visited more
places in Minamata and talked more with the victims.''
Ahead of the memorial service, the environment minister held a meeting to
exchange opinions with several groups of victims, including those who accepted
the redress measures.
During the meeting, Yoshiharu Murakami, president of a victims' group, urged
the government to help all of the victims including those who did not take part
in the court battle.
The neurological illness has affected coastal residents in Kumamoto and
Kagoshima prefectures, in which 2,271 people have been officially recognized as
patients so far. It was also confirmed in Niigata Prefecture in 1965, where it
was found to be caused by waste water from a Showa Denko K.K. plant.
==Kyodo

X