< Previous | Contents | Next >
a) Minamata disease
♤ Minamata disease was first discovered in Minamata city in Kumamoto prefecture, 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.
♤ It is also referred to as Chisso-Minamata disease, is a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning.
♤ Symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, narrowing of the field of vision and damage to hearing and speech. In extreme cases, insanity, paralysis, coma, and death follow within weeks of the onset of symptoms. A congenital form of the disease can also affect fetuses in the womb.
♤ This highly toxic chemical bioaccumulated 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 over more than 30 years, the government and company did little to prevent the pollution.
b) Yokkaichi asthma
♤ Disease occurred in the city of Yokkaichi in Mie Prefecture, Japan between 1960 and 1972.
♤ The burning of petroleum and crude oil released large quantities of sulfur oxide that caused severe smog, resulting in severe cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic bronchitis, pulmonary emphysema, and bronchial asthma among the local inhabitants.
c) Itai-itai disease
♤ Itai-itai disease was the documented case of mass cadmium poisoning in Toyama Prefecture, Japan, starting around 1912.
♤ The cadmium poisoning caused softening of the bones and kidney failure.
♤ The cadmium was released into rivers by mining companies in the mountains. The mining companies
were successfully sued for the damage
d) Blue baby syndrome
♤ It is believed to be caused by high nitrate contamination in ground water resulting in decreased oxygen carrying capacity of hemoglobin in babies leading to death.
♤ The groundwater is thought to be contaminated by leaching of nitrate generated from fertilizer used in agricultural lands and waste dumps.
♤ It may also be related to some pesticides (DDT, PCBs etc), which cause eco toxicological problems in the food chains of living organisms, increasing BOD, which kills aquatic animals.
e) Pneumoconiosis
♤ The coal miners are frequently caught by the black lung disease, which is also called as Pneumoconiosis
♤ Pneumoconiosis is caused due to the deposit of coal dust in the lungs of coal miners, leads to a serious lung disease called as Black Lung disease.
f) Asbestosis
♤ Workers working in the asbestos industry are caught by the serious lung disease called as asbestosis.
G) Silicosis
♤ It is caused due to the deposit of silica in the lungs of workers working in silica industries or at the sand blasting sites
h) Emphysema
♤ The breaking down of sensitive tissue of lungs due to air pollution and smoke of cigarette is called as Emphysema. Once this disease happens, the lungs cannot expand and contract properly
I) Sick Building Syndrome (SBS)
♤ Sick building syndrome (SBS) is a combination of ailments (a syndrome) associated with an individual’s place of work or residence.
♤ Most of the sick building syndrome is related to poor indoor air quality.
♤ Sick building causes are frequently pinned down to flaws in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Other causes have been attributed to contaminants produced by out gassing of some types of building materials, volatile organic compounds (VOC), molds, improper exhaust ventilation of ozone, light industrial chemicals used within, or lack of adequate fresh-air intake air filtration