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PHYSICIANS RAISE MERCURY POLLUTION ALARM IN ARMENIA
Narek Aleksanyan
14:01, August 15, 2013
At a Yerevan press conference today, specialists from the "Armenian
Women for Health and a Healthy Environment" raised the alarm about
mercury pollution in Armenia and the need to take immediate steps to
avert possible future health calamities associated with heavy metals.
Physicians Knarik Grigoryan and Emma Anakhasyan expressed the hope
that Armenia would sign the Minamata Convention on Mercury come
this October.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a legally binding instrument
to protect the human health and the environment from anthropogenic
emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.
The speakers refereed to what is called "Minamata Disease", a
neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning.
Minamata disease was first discovered in Minamata city, Japan, in
1956. It was caused by the release of methyl mercury in the industrial
wastewater from the Chisso Corporation's chemical factory, which
continued from 1932 to 1968. This highly toxic chemical bio-accumulated
in shellfish and fish in Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea, which,
when eaten by the local populace, resulted in mercury poisoning.
While cat, dog, pig, and human deaths continued for 36 years,
the government and company did little to prevent the pollution. The
animal effects were severe enough in cats that they came to be called
"dancing cat fever.
As of March 2001, 2,265 victims had been officially recognized (1,784
of who had died) and over 10,000 had received financial compensation
from Chisso.
http://hetq.am/eng/news/28724/physicians-raise-mercury-pollution-alarm-in-armenia.html
Narek Aleksanyan
14:01, August 15, 2013
At a Yerevan press conference today, specialists from the "Armenian
Women for Health and a Healthy Environment" raised the alarm about
mercury pollution in Armenia and the need to take immediate steps to
avert possible future health calamities associated with heavy metals.
Physicians Knarik Grigoryan and Emma Anakhasyan expressed the hope
that Armenia would sign the Minamata Convention on Mercury come
this October.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a legally binding instrument
to protect the human health and the environment from anthropogenic
emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.
The speakers refereed to what is called "Minamata Disease", a
neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning.
Minamata disease was first discovered in Minamata city, Japan, in
1956. It was caused by the release of methyl mercury in the industrial
wastewater from the Chisso Corporation's chemical factory, which
continued from 1932 to 1968. This highly toxic chemical bio-accumulated
in shellfish and fish in Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea, which,
when eaten by the local populace, resulted in mercury poisoning.
While cat, dog, pig, and human deaths continued for 36 years,
the government and company did little to prevent the pollution. The
animal effects were severe enough in cats that they came to be called
"dancing cat fever.
As of March 2001, 2,265 victims had been officially recognized (1,784
of who had died) and over 10,000 had received financial compensation
from Chisso.
http://hetq.am/eng/news/28724/physicians-raise-mercury-pollution-alarm-in-armenia.html