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Minamata Bay
Chisso company opened in Minamata. It was a chemical company for nitrogenous fertilizers. It boosted the local economy and employment of locals. -
Period: to
Minamata Bay
In the small town of Minamata in Japan the Chisso factory makes petrochemical-based substances from fertilizer to plastics. The waste water of the factory contained high amount of methylmercury from the process. The water was dumped into the bay and several thousand people living there started to suffer from mercury poisoning. The methylmercury was absorbed into the bodies of shrimp, which were eaten by fish, eaten by humans and caused disease. More on p. 76 workbook. => biomagnification -
Minamata Bay
The chemical waste from refrigerators, washing machines, televisions ... in Japan was increasing enormously since it economic growth. -
Minamata Bay
In 1957 the cause of the Minamata disease was discovered: poison from methylmercury from the food. The mercury (waste of the factory) was dumped in the lake. A little chemical in the lake made it methylmercury => very poisonous. This was taken in by the plants, eaten by the fish, eaten by the animals and humans. -
DDT - Rachel Carson
In the 1960s Rachel Carson starts warning the American public about the effects of DDT, on both humans and animals/complete ecosystems. -
Minamata Bay
The chemical industry was linked with the methylmercury poisoning of the environment and the people. -
Minamata Bay
In 1968 the company Chisso stopped dumping mercury in the lake, while it has been a long time since the link between the mercury and the disease was made. At this time Japan's GNP was the 2nd largest in the world. -
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
An EIA is a report created before a development project to see how it will change the use of land both positive and negative. They are used as evidence in the decision making for big projects like airport development etc. EIAs were created in the US in 1969 and within 20 years it was passed as a law. Today a lot of countries have EIA as part of their planning process. The requirements for an EIA are not the same everywhere but there are 3 main tasks. EIA also has some weaknesses. (See p. 44-45) -
DDT and malarial mosquitoes
The WHO banned the use of DDT in 1970. DDT is a persistent organochlorine insecticide which is used to kill malarial mosquitoes. DDT is very effective against the mosquito, however it thins the eggshells of wild birds, causing their population numbers to reduce. DDT is cheap and persistent and good at the job, so a lot of people still use the chemical to fight malaria mosquitoes. See p 53 of the workbook for full information. => bioaccumulation -
DDT - Use and ban
From the beginning of the 19th century up until 1972 it was allowed to use DDT as a pesticide. It was used to control malaria and other tropical diseases especially during WW2 by US troops, since DDT killed the mosquitoes and other insects. In 1972 it was banned by the US because of the many bad impacts it has on wildlife and insects. It is still used in Africa and South-America for the reason of diminishing the occurence of tropical diseases. -
Montreal protocol
The Montreal Protocol organized by the United Nations Environmental Program against the usage of ODS. Over 30 countries agreed to cut CFC (cholofluorocarbon) production by 2000 and developing countries by 2010. CFCs are almost totally gone, HCFCs are being reduced and now in the Kigali amendment of 2019 the phasing out of HFC. -
Minamata Bay
After a long process the water in Minamata bay was finally declared "clean" in 1997. -
Kyoto protocol
The Kyoto protocol signed on december 11th 1997 was enforced on Febr 16th 2005 to battle greenhouse gas emissions. The next target year is 31st December 2020. The protocol is targeting: Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulphur dioxide -
Minamata Bay
In 2002 the first UNEP (part of the UN environment council) report came out: the issues related to mercury were explained in this report. -
Millenial Development Goals
Established in 2005 at the UN summit in NY the MDGs published a document with 3 chapters: Freedom from want (8 MDGs), freedom from fear and freedom to live in dignity (based on the 4 freedom's identified by former US president Franklin Roosevelt). -
Minamata Bay
Since 2009 a legally binding document is needed to dump waste somewhere. -
Minamata Bay
Only in 2013 the Minamata convention is established. It is a convention were all countries try to go against chemical waste dumping and especially the mercury and its effects. It is named after Minamata bay because this is were the first incident was reported, since it was in such a small bay. -
Sustainable Development Goals
2015 UN Summit in NY redesigned the MDGs into the 17 SDGs, document published is called Agenda for Sustainable Development, target 2030 (document is sometimes referred to Agenda 2030) -
Minamata Bay
Established in 2017 the conference of parties (COP) is a conference were waste, transport, labor, WHO etc are discussed. Last year (2017) more than 50 countries signed the agreement and it is supported by more than a 100 partners, of which my dad is one (representative of chemical industry CEFIC). In November 2018 the COP 2 will be held in Geneva, Switzerland. -
Bioaccumulation
If a chemical breaks down slowly/not at all, plants may take it up and animals may take it in as they eat or breath. If not excreted or egested, the chemical accumulates in their bodies over time. If it stays in the ecosystem for a prolonged period of time, the concentration builds up which eventually can be so high that it will cause disease or death => bioaccumulation. An example of this is pesticides, DDT ... more info on bioaccumulation and biomagnification on p.75 -
Biomagnification
If a herbivore eats a plant that has a chemical in its tissues, the amount that the herbivore takes in is greater than that of the plant (the h. grazes many plants => higher chemical amount). If a carnivore eats the herbivores, it too will take in more of the chemical than each herbivore. In this way the chemical's concentration is magnified from trophic level to trophic level. The chemical may not affect organisms lower in the food chain (less amount), it can lead to disease or death higher up.
