Minamata

Minamata is a village located on the west coast of southern Kyushu. The locals noticed a change when the street cats started to dance and then shortly after collapse and die. This was caused by the locals ingesting mercury without even knowing…

How it started:
The Chisso Corporation opened a chemical factory in 1908. The Minamata factory was one of the most advanced in the world distributing acetylene, acetaldehyde, acetic acid, vinyl chloride and octanol. For the acetaldehyde they used mercury sulfate as a catalyst. A reaction to the catalytic cycle caused a production of mercury...