Between 1953 and 1956 an unknown illness in Minamata Japan was affecting the nervous systems of many people. They found that it was induced by eating large amounts of fish contaminated by mercury.The mercury came from a new industrial plant which had been manufacturing acetaldehyde and vinyl compounds on a large scale. The study group realized that the major factor in the illness was the presence of methyl mercury in fish.

Can you believe that the Japanese are still suffering from this problem because of the waste from chemical factories is still being pumped into the sea ---and the Japanese eat a lot of fish.