The 'Dancing Cat' Disaster of Japan | Minamata Explained

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  • čas přidán 29. 08. 2024

Komentáře • 1,4K

  • @Cruznick06
    @Cruznick06 Před 6 lety +849

    The reason the cats were affected so much sooner than humans was not only due to their size but also the parts of the fish that were thrown out as scraps. The organs had greater amounts of mercury than the flesh. Shinzo Co. denied their culpability in the disaster for decades and even buried the work of one of their physicians. They stuck to the story of "we aren't dumping organic mercury so it isn't us" far longer than they should have. The whole disaster actually inspired the story and world of Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind.

    • @liquidmech1727
      @liquidmech1727 Před 5 lety +8

      Wait what

    • @MultiPunci
      @MultiPunci Před 5 lety +44

      Woah, did it actually inspire the ghibli movie? That’s amazing, never thought of that. I gotta rewatch it with that new perspective 😄 Thanks for the info dude

    • @sobek6735
      @sobek6735 Před 4 lety +8

      Pretty cool to see a comment that is not “ please like this comment! I need to validate my ego!”

    • @hotaruishere2133
      @hotaruishere2133 Před 4 lety +36

      Oh wow, I knew Nausicaa was a story about taking care of the environment, but I had no idea that its roots came from something specific like this. That's so sad, and interesting, for a lack of better words.

    • @repzgaming5
      @repzgaming5 Před 4 lety +4

      And that one episode in Avatar The Last Airbender

  • @TheTomBevis
    @TheTomBevis Před 7 lety +1755

    Isn't that the way it always goes? Spend 12 years proving the damage before a corporation will spend a penny to stop the poisoning.

    • @thominaduncanson8003
      @thominaduncanson8003 Před 7 lety +32

      The corporations have forgotten the most important court appearance--when they must stand before the great white throne, and answer for the deaths and injury to the planet to the Creator, Almighty God--and I do NOT think that their court appearance will go well. Should have thought of that before...🐺🇺🇸

    • @TheDarrenPR
      @TheDarrenPR Před 7 lety +168

      God is nothing more than a fictional character designed for the purposes of controlling people by fear. He's the most blatant yet overlooked example of terrorism in the world. There is no judgement after death and no punishment for these foul businessmen.

    • @thominaduncanson8003
      @thominaduncanson8003 Před 7 lety +9

      +DarrenPR One day you WILL wake up, and realize the best Friend you could ever have is your King Jesus Christ, who died for your sins so that you could have an abundant life here, and eternal life with joys forever with His Father, Almighty God. God does not terrorize anyone, but He does have rules that cannot be broken, and unfortunately humans have a natural bent for breaking rules..."for all have sinned and fallen short". Thankfully, Jesus has paid the price of everyone's sins, and all you need to do to access this "payment in full" for your sins is to repent, and ask Jesus into your heart. I guarantee that it will be the best decision you have ever made! 😁🇺🇸

    • @MrAntieMatter
      @MrAntieMatter Před 7 lety +158

      Why the hell did you have to throw religion into this!?

    • @putridamayanti2326
      @putridamayanti2326 Před 7 lety +35

      The emoji suggests that they're trolling

  • @rareroe305
    @rareroe305 Před 7 lety +1177

    Just from the video title, I was thinking "Ooooh, did they act weird when they knew an earthquake was coming or something?"
    The real video was much more depressing.

    • @woom_y
      @woom_y Před 7 lety +22

      rareroe305 i checked comment section before the video. Thought there would be dancing cats. Was unpleasantly surprised

    • @naturegirl1999
      @naturegirl1999 Před 5 lety +11

      @LagiNaLangAko23 the problem is the people who did that would get arrested for poisoning people, since the company indirectly did this, they dont get punished...the things money allows you to do...

    • @zes3813
      @zes3813 Před 5 lety

      wrg, no depresx for suchx, anyx

    • @spindash64
      @spindash64 Před 5 lety +1

      LagiNaLangAko23
      Fellas, fellas, killing them is not the answer!
      We can’t afford to be that merciful, now can we?

    • @rinhato8453
      @rinhato8453 Před 5 lety

      I was thinking that maybe the hot springs were going haywire and heating up too much, which heated the ground and made the cats want to jump around to save their lil toe beans :c

  • @jennifersakura8751
    @jennifersakura8751 Před 7 lety +279

    My family is from Minamata. It is now one of the loveliest places to live. There are still residents who are still living with the effects of the poisoning.

    • @whatshappenedhere1784
      @whatshappenedhere1784 Před 5 lety +18

      Not gonna lie this comment is fairly bi-polar

    • @FlyingDwarfman
      @FlyingDwarfman Před 4 lety +30

      ​@@whatshappenedhere1784 Huh? It's bipolar by by giving a personal experience that vilifies the general statements from the video?
      The place was once a perfect paradise, but became host to a great corporate horror of chemical waste poisoning. Now 40 years after the waste has stopped, the environment has mostly healed itself. However, we can still see remnants of that nearly 20-year horror story today -- in the form of survivors of mercury poisoning and the witnesses of the tragedy.
      Nothing "bipolar" about the comment beyond any inherent "bipolar-ness" of the story itself.

    • @raymondfrye5017
      @raymondfrye5017 Před 4 lety +4

      To Ms. Sakura: The government of Japan never did dredge the bay to chemically remove the mercury and other heavy metals on the bottom.
      Regards

    • @vadastory2348
      @vadastory2348 Před 4 lety

      Its Really a nice town

    • @-mousemicemices-2158
      @-mousemicemices-2158 Před 4 lety +4

      @Allan Sneddon No, in exchange for giving a pittance of money to those impacted the court agreed to grant them immunity to being sued.

  • @pierrecurie
    @pierrecurie Před 7 lety +538

    But it gets worse. The company basically said
    "It's so awful what happened to this quaint town. Because we're so generous and care about our community, we're offering money to those affected. Only condition is that you waive the right to sue us. We wouldn't want to bite the hand that feeds us, right?"

    • @naturegirl1999
      @naturegirl1999 Před 5 lety +36

      This is terrible, if only there was a punishment that could actually deter people from doing things like this, not sure what would work though

    • @vla1ne
      @vla1ne Před 5 lety +27

      @Java Stone You know he was likely implying suing, shutting them down, and/or jailing them right? Sarcastic or no, the implication was fairly clear.

    • @ix-Xafra
      @ix-Xafra Před 5 lety +10

      Oh NDA, oh NDA your silence keeps us solvent...

    • @HMan2828
      @HMan2828 Před 5 lety +1

      I honestly would have set the factory on fire.

    • @OurFreeSociety
      @OurFreeSociety Před 5 lety +4

      @@naturegirl1999 - corporations like this do things that harm us or kill us ALL the time & the criminal gov'ts that are there to protect them let it go on.
      Please do some research.
      Just some examples
      1. Cigarette companies
      2. Monsanto - GMOs & glyphosate, but there are other companies that have produced all myriads of TOXIC pesticides & herbicides that we then eat & they harm us.
      3. The Pharma mafia & that includes ALL drugs & vaccines
      4. The fake food industry - absolutely NOTHING healthy about fake food. It's ALL made in a lab & they create it to work on your brain so you don't stop eating. It's literally NOT real food.
      5. Gates & others who do geoengineering (actually the gov't is ion on this.) Geoengineering is what is causing ALL of the terrible weather issues we've been having for years. It's NOT global warming, it's the gov't doing this on puprose using the weather as a weapon.
      6. All telecommunication companies - they have known for decades that wifi, cell phones, cell phone towers, all wifi/smart devices are toxic to the human body & to all insects & animals. It also passes the blood brain barrier.
      They are NOT allowed to be sued & they have been causing major diseases including cancer, infertility, & death.
      7. Fluoride in the water. Totally toxic meant to dumb people down (it literally lowers IQ) & keep people docile so they don't have energy to fight back.
      There's more.
      This is a worldwide problem where the owners of the corporation are NOT allowed to be sued b/c once again, the criminal gov't that protects the elite are in on the criminal acts.
      They are either given money to keep quiet, given a cushy job that gives them prestige & lots of money, or they are blackmailed or threatened.
      And those are just the things that harm us health-wise, I haven't even started on all the ways the elite & gov't controls us as slaves.

  • @5iwot5
    @5iwot5 Před 7 lety +868

    12 years before even stopping the dumping... damn.

    • @winterlarsime9938
      @winterlarsime9938 Před 7 lety +7

      It reminds me of Itai Itai disease.

    • @szlingozec8395
      @szlingozec8395 Před 6 lety +8

      "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free
      State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be
      infringed." and this folks is one of the reasons.

    • @therealb888
      @therealb888 Před 6 lety +4

      Szling Ozec Is this from the US constituition?

    • @szlingozec8395
      @szlingozec8395 Před 6 lety +10

      b888 Yes I know this specific example did not happen in the United States. But this sort of action is not unique to Japan. Anyplace where greedy people have an opportunity to make a profit and the bystanders don't have a means of defense something like this happens sooner or later.

    • @christianturley1701
      @christianturley1701 Před 6 lety +32

      But... like non of the situations can be solved with guns.

  • @deeslay6475
    @deeslay6475 Před 6 lety +2259

    Those cats were dancing to...................... Heavy metal

  • @Cythil
    @Cythil Před 7 lety +416

    This makes me a bit annoyed as people knew back in the 1950's that mercury was bad. A lot of other stuff was just mistakes. CFCs, Asbestos, and DDT were all not considered harmful when they were adopted. CFCs where for example know for not being reactive those should be pretty harmless. Asbestos had been used for a really long time but only in small quanties.

    • @traplover6357
      @traplover6357 Před 7 lety +5

      Cythil mass production and polluting via dumping waste made these chemicals known to be dangerous.

    • @Cloaked1000
      @Cloaked1000 Před 7 lety +69

      Not only that, but according to the Wikipedia page on the Chisso Corporation, they resorted to some pretty nasty tactics to try and suppress the news of it, such as hiring Yakuza (organised criminals) to beat people.

    • @gnarthdarkanen7464
      @gnarthdarkanen7464 Před 7 lety +21

      What about the CFC-based "freeze-off" gum removers still produced in countries like China (and imported to the U.S. as well as others) up to the early 2000's?
      ...Or the open-burn methods of recovering metals from used electronics and computers that's popular in China even today?
      ...Or the gold mining industry all around the world STILL uses plain mercury as a means to enrich gold ore and extract gold... after which it's just "vented off" in a cooker to vaporize in open atmosphere...
      The bottom line is that every day there are probably hundreds of violations against the environment from practically every industry out there. Either it's just carelessness, or through authentic malice, people destroy far more than they should in the interest of making a quicker, easier, buck. Corporates justify paying fines over fixing anything because it's cheaper, and they only answer fiscally to stock-holders. Government officials only bother harassing people like you and me, over little crap because they get their rocks off pushing sh*t downhill... Mostly because they get nowhere against the corporate machines... It really hasn't changed much, and it's probably not going to. :o)

    • @TasX
      @TasX Před 7 lety +14

      +gnarth d'arkanen not really. We have made progress over the years. All the examples you refer to are now much smaller scale than they were 30 years ago. Think about it- just 40 years ago, everyone drove around a car that blew out lead-contaminated gas! Now, more and more cars are becoming completely emission-free. Same with tobacco. And this was done by both citizens and the government. So I don't really agree with what you say. No cooperation houses the majority of the population enough to influence the government to a degree that the government can just turn a blind eye to complaints from half the country

    • @Cythil
      @Cythil Před 7 lety +11

      Anyone who still uses CFS, mercury or any other well know an environmentally bad chemical is not ignorant but simply being malicious. People like that do not go away just because we know thing are bad. And I am still annoyed that people like that sometimes get away.
      Overall, however, we use a lot less CFS, mercury and other bad chemicals than we did in the past.
      (Sometimes it still a case of ignorance, however. But then is often the blame of our institutions that do not educate our population well enough. A Japanse chemical company in the 50's, however, should know better and not have any excuse for dumping mercury in the environment. Then you willfully ignorant like how DuPont was willfully ignorent about how bad CFS where. )

  • @JudeTMi
    @JudeTMi Před 7 lety +91

    So i learnt about this in uni and the insidious thing is that the fishermen were initially pleased because the fish were easy to catch, also an even scarier fact is that the Chisso Corporation is still running today.

    • @traekas7228
      @traekas7228 Před 4 lety

      Judy Tran, Sorry, but what’s uni? So, Chisso Corporation is still in business?? Without any repercussions at all for being at fault in that corporate coverup? All those Human deaths, illnesses, birth defects, and, not to mention all the Cats’ suffering, too. Again, just in case. What does “uni” stand for? Is it short for United States?

    • @jkhs9055
      @jkhs9055 Před 4 lety +12

      @@traekas7228 I think she means "university"

    • @revimfadli4666
      @revimfadli4666 Před 3 lety

      @@traekas7228 i won't be surprised if their stakeholders had ties with the yakuza

  • @midgefidget5796
    @midgefidget5796 Před 7 lety +15

    When I was a kid there was a pictoral article in Life Magazine. This video did little to convey the horror of what happened to these townspeople. I'm over 65 now and that one article remains as one of the most traumatic things to ever happen to me. The horror of it can not be conveyed in words. You did an excellent job and I actually thank you for not including pictures of the victoms.

    • @user-ov4wr5yu4r
      @user-ov4wr5yu4r Před rokem

      That was some classic and highly disturbing photojournalism.

  • @mo_arrows2234
    @mo_arrows2234 Před 7 lety +1560

    0:53 Missed Opportunity to say CATalyst

    • @BenjaminOienMB
      @BenjaminOienMB Před 7 lety +25

      mowhawkarrows
      This company's catalyst carelessness caused a cation which couples with cyctene to catastrophic effect.

    • @gnarthdarkanen7464
      @gnarthdarkanen7464 Před 7 lety +29

      CAT-ASS-TROPHY! RIGHT HERE!!! :o)

    • @search895
      @search895 Před 7 lety +34

      I like this CATegory of dad jokes.

    • @heatherswanson1664
      @heatherswanson1664 Před 7 lety +48

      What a CATastrophe.

    • @search895
      @search895 Před 7 lety +6

      nGon- Hey dont cat off our comuniCATion

  • @aidanmacnaull3020
    @aidanmacnaull3020 Před 7 lety +528

    Does anyone else find this like, legit horrifying?

    • @jjc5475
      @jjc5475 Před 7 lety +13

      i shouldn't have watched this before sleeping.

    • @turborooster8548
      @turborooster8548 Před 6 lety +1

      john pardon for me it's 1 am right now

    • @JoseGranny
      @JoseGranny Před 5 lety +8

      They should do a video on how much pollution our own corporations are responsible for.

    • @williamnolan2321
      @williamnolan2321 Před 5 lety

      No then again I am writing a horror book

    • @katec3963
      @katec3963 Před 5 lety +1

      Yea makes me wonder who else is poinoning our water

  • @normalpeopleboreme
    @normalpeopleboreme Před 6 lety +79

    Cats are really animals of routine (from my observation). When the cats start acting weird, something is usually wrong. My cat saved me from a black widow by acting weird.

    • @padmashreejewellers4055
      @padmashreejewellers4055 Před 3 lety +7

      black widow spider?
      wow, you were so lucky. Its 2021 right now i hope you are still doing well and are safe. Even if anything is wrong please dont loose hope and keep this thing in mind that you will get through whatever you are going through.
      I hope you have a great life.

    • @emberhermin52
      @emberhermin52 Před 2 lety +1

      I'm not sure if you mean the spider or the figurative, human sense of the term... Either way, that's good cat

    • @icarusbinns3156
      @icarusbinns3156 Před 2 lety +10

      I know my blood sugars are starting to rise fast when one of our cats makes this weird grinding-crying noise while staring at me. She hates the smell of a high blood sugar, and wants me to fix it right away. She’s a good kitten (even if she does get noisy zoomies a couple times each night)

    • @NoneRain_
      @NoneRain_ Před 2 lety

      @@padmashreejewellers4055 dude, it was an spider, not cancer

    • @padmashreejewellers4055
      @padmashreejewellers4055 Před 2 lety +2

      @@NoneRain_ Spiders and cancers are equally horrifying for me.

  • @theLivind
    @theLivind Před 4 lety +13

    I searched for "Minamata dancing cats" and found a video where they show footage of the people affected by mercury poisoning. Absolutly chilling to think that a corporation can ruin your ability to control and or even steady your own body like that and get away with it. I hope the people who allowed this to happen, and then covered it up, got long and harsh prison sentences.

    • @leodajosh3129
      @leodajosh3129 Před 3 lety +6

      They didn't face any prison sentences back then they did however provide compensation to the then reported 1700 affected patients around $68000 out of the 17000 reportaly affected people, and this was after YEARS of court battle! When, the courts finally declared the corporation as the offender and ordered for compensation, the patients and their supporters went to the offices of chisso for their money.There they got into got into discussions with the president and his lawyers for 2 (or maybe1) weeks, before an affected patient got furious slashed his wrist with an astray in front of the president. If you want to read more about the incident the book Minamata', Words and Photographs by W.E. Smith and A.M. Smith provide every detail from the perspective of the photographer William Eugene Smith.

  • @nosuchthing8
    @nosuchthing8 Před 5 lety +23

    When you opened with the claim that living next to a chemical factory next to a bay was perfect, I immediately was suspicious. Because of dumping.

  • @firstnamelastname-bx9md
    @firstnamelastname-bx9md Před 7 lety +39

    a MAN made preventable disaster, the CEO's and responsible parties in the chemical company should have been charged with man-slaughter, negligence and environmental destruction, horrific

    • @Blubb5000
      @Blubb5000 Před 4 lety

      They had money. That's why nothing happened.

    • @revimfadli4666
      @revimfadli4666 Před 3 lety

      No wonder extreme feminists hate man so much lol

    • @revimfadli4666
      @revimfadli4666 Před 3 lety

      @@Blubb5000 I won't be surprised if their stakeholders had ties with the yakuza

    • @SomeRandomPiggo
      @SomeRandomPiggo Před 3 lety

      @@revimfadli4666 lmao what, man made generally refers to humans, not just men unless you're making a joke

    • @revimfadli4666
      @revimfadli4666 Před 3 lety

      @@SomeRandomPiggo lmao was joke indeed

  • @LA6NPA
    @LA6NPA Před 7 lety +240

    I wish you guys would have mentioned, at least in passing, the work of W. Eugene Smith, how his percistance and documentary photography helped expose the issue.

    • @holocene2164
      @holocene2164 Před 4 lety +1

      Didn't know that. Thanks!

    • @capicuaaa
      @capicuaaa Před 3 lety +1

      Indeed! His most famous photograph is one of the most poignant testimonies of the whole poisoning!

    • @revimfadli4666
      @revimfadli4666 Před 3 lety

      What a nosy Gaijin, meddling in other people's business
      /S

    • @LA6NPA
      @LA6NPA Před 3 lety +4

      @@revimfadli4666 Press is supposed to be nosy. That's how you get to the truth. I guess you don't like news, huh. He was, in my opinion the greatest press photographer ever and that job in japan cost him his health from being beaten up by factory goons, and all you call him is a nosy gaijin. That's pretty disrespectful, coming from another gaijin.

    • @revimfadli4666
      @revimfadli4666 Před 3 lety +3

      @@LA6NPA and "/S" is supposed to indicate sarcasm. That's how you tell the difference. I guess you don't like sarcastic humor, huh. And all you call it was "you don't like news", that's pretty disrespectful
      Or am I getting elaborately double wooshed?
      Jokes aside, it was of course an admirable pursuit of truth & informing the public, fighting against injustice by those with power. Shows that outside interference in "other people's business" can be necessary
      Beaten by company goons you said? Now it's even less of a surprise if the company's stakeholders had ties with, if not the yakuza themselves

  • @razibbaraljoy9978
    @razibbaraljoy9978 Před 7 lety +21

    After watching this, I went through several Minamata disaster videos. They are just horrific. Death is far better than this disease.
    God bless us.

  • @tubertz
    @tubertz Před 7 lety +1354

    this is sad :(

    • @tubertz
      @tubertz Před 7 lety +25

      not only did they die but they ruined the environment

    • @thevegastan
      @thevegastan Před 7 lety +4

      CZcamsrtz the owner and whoever ordered and approved such acts should have their entire and future family generations eliminated indefinitely!

    • @user-df4zw7yb4v
      @user-df4zw7yb4v Před 7 lety +1

      Vegas Tan, they didn't know the consequences... It was a while ago!

    • @TheWraithkrown
      @TheWraithkrown Před 7 lety +19

      So the sins of the father are the sins of the son/daughter? Really there should be repercussions for those involved, but not their families.

    • @MrPruske
      @MrPruske Před 7 lety +1

      how many people got to feed their families cleaning up the mess?

  • @rickiex
    @rickiex Před 7 lety +460

    So regulations are actually a good thing? Well, I'll be damned

    • @billyosullivan4514
      @billyosullivan4514 Před 5 lety +5

      Not all

    • @Seek1878
      @Seek1878 Před 5 lety +43

      @@billyosullivan4514 Eat some mercury fish, why don't you?

    • @billyosullivan4514
      @billyosullivan4514 Před 5 lety +8

      @@Seek1878 not all obviously dumping dangerous waste in water is

    • @eval_is_evil
      @eval_is_evil Před 5 lety +18

      Would you like the state to regulate what brand of sport shoes you can buy even if it is made of the same stuff other sport shoes are made of? Ofcourse not. Not all regulation is good and not all deregulation is good. It depends if competent people chose to do it and if it works.

    • @Utellglass
      @Utellglass Před 5 lety +3

      Typical brain wash liberal promoting big government. We need less regulation to protect capitalism an hence protect democracy

  • @nicholashylton6857
    @nicholashylton6857 Před 7 lety +40

    _Trust corporations! They always have your best interests in mind._
    _Lower pollution standards!_
    _Jobs over public health!_
    _Scientists don't now anything!!_ /sarcasm off...

  • @Cobra6x6
    @Cobra6x6 Před 6 lety +33

    This is probably one of the reasons "mysterious deadly disease covered up by a conspiracy" is a common trope in thoughtful scary japanese media.
    As in one of my favorite anime, Higurashi no Naku koro ni.

  • @MilnaAlen
    @MilnaAlen Před 3 lety +6

    Methylmercury is so terrifying. I heard about a chemist who dropped just 2 drops on her skin and half her brain swell, and she died.

    • @saara5589
      @saara5589 Před 2 lety +3

      Karen Wetterhahn. She did so much for the field of toxicology but tragically ended up paying for it with her life.

  • @MrLordMooMoo
    @MrLordMooMoo Před 7 lety +607

    This is why we need a strong EPA.

    • @jerrybaker9855
      @jerrybaker9855 Před 7 lety +11

      no its not its why we need people to make sure they pay attention to businesses they work at

    • @rafetizer
      @rafetizer Před 7 lety +44

      When was the EPA going out of it's way to harass common citizens?

    • @jerrybaker9855
      @jerrybaker9855 Před 7 lety +16

      the same time it was sucking the dicks of compenines it should have been investigating

    • @EmployeeJoe630
      @EmployeeJoe630 Před 7 lety +18

      Jerry Baker compenines?

    • @EchoL0C0
      @EchoL0C0 Před 7 lety +57

      Ucdn 97
      No kidding. It's headed by a guy who wants to destroy it.

  • @Master_Therion
    @Master_Therion Před 7 lety +708

    No footage of the dancing cats? This is CZcams, if I search for "dancing cats" videos I'll be here for 6 months.

    • @BamfIamone
      @BamfIamone Před 7 lety +5

      Ethan Badge ethan don't stop, you're a hero

    • @Master_Therion
      @Master_Therion Před 7 lety +52

      Glitch
      Thanks, but I was just joking about how many cat videos are on CZcams. I wouldn't want to see an actual video of a cat suffering, that would be sad.

    • @sionowe2533
      @sionowe2533 Před 7 lety +38

      yeah just youtubed "dancing cats minimata". Sci-show does it no justice, the footage is harrowing.

    • @ZennExile
      @ZennExile Před 7 lety +27

      A similar thing happens to people who drink lead in their water. Small amounts over time and you end up like Trump, delirious and mentally disabled. Large amounts and you go insane and die. But those poor cats...

    • @dantevortex
      @dantevortex Před 7 lety +10

      Well, if you really REALLY enjoy watching animals spazz out into uncontrollable illness and oncoming death, there are far better websites for that than youtube.

  • @ThaSandwitch
    @ThaSandwitch Před 5 lety +17

    Wait, so there were no repercussions for the company other than eventually, reluctantly, having to stop dumping?!?

    • @revimfadli4666
      @revimfadli4666 Před 3 lety +1

      I won't be surprised if their stakeholders had ties with the yakuza

  •  Před 7 lety +9

    4:54 "The _government_ started to clean the bay." Why couldn't the Chisso Corporation be bothered?

    • @spindash64
      @spindash64 Před 5 lety

      Manfred Höffken
      Because no one put them under legal pressure to do so

  • @awolpeace1781
    @awolpeace1781 Před 7 lety +25

    The paper mill in Dryden, Ontario did the exact same thing.

    • @MephLeo
      @MephLeo Před 7 lety +3

      Unfortunately, this kind of practice still is carried out in many places.

    • @gnarthdarkanen7464
      @gnarthdarkanen7464 Před 7 lety +4

      Honestly, it's exactly incidents like this that are why you should never assume anyone (including / especially government agencies) is doing their job. Always assume the entire world is out to get you, whether on a personal or professional level and basis, and then check it out until you've proven one way or another. :o)

  • @reneelaicecreamxx4179
    @reneelaicecreamxx4179 Před 7 lety +3

    And I heard the factory stopped duping waste was because the old method was time/ money wasting and use another newer method at that time, which was the saddest part

  • @novaglacrr6114
    @novaglacrr6114 Před 5 lety +9

    "When hat makers used mercury (something something - brain fart) in hats"
    Hence the term; Mad as a Hatter.

  • @blackthejack
    @blackthejack Před 7 lety +15

    1 year ago, a steal plant company named Formosa dumpped its waste water into the sea floor around the central coast line of vietnam. hundreds tons of fish and sea creature died.

    • @koushuu
      @koushuu Před 7 lety +4

      Yes, I heard the news. Unluckily, I live right within the province with the polluted sea (Ha Tinh, by the way). Unable to eat seafood form nearly 6 months.

  • @fartzinwind
    @fartzinwind Před 7 lety +3

    Where I work, I've seen delays in repairs at Super Fund sites delayed because of radioactive dirt that needed to be removed. Things a simple as a Telco Technician repair dispatch can be delayed by weeks / months. If you want to see something depressing, that we can't just make go away, look up U.S. Superfund sites... they are messed up.

  • @NOONE-iq3zt
    @NOONE-iq3zt Před 7 lety +37

    Me trying to sleep, but SciShow had to upload now! Oh well, I hate mondays anyways.

  • @phantasm1234
    @phantasm1234 Před 7 lety +19

    Hello, SciShow! Do you think you could make a video explaining the current knowledge of cerebral aneurysms? I had one rupture at 19 and after learning so much about them, I would love for a bigger audience to learn of them!

  • @troydhaliwal7910
    @troydhaliwal7910 Před 7 lety +64

    Do a video on why moths are so damn dusty

    • @ismailabdelirada9531
      @ismailabdelirada9531 Před 5 lety +3

      Dusty? No problem. Just douse them with furniture polish. ;-)

    • @alisoncircus
      @alisoncircus Před 5 lety +22

      It's those flaking-off scales. All moths and butterflies have scales coating their wings; moths have ones that are specifically designed to come off easily, so that if they brush the edge of a spider's web the scales come off and they get away. SciShow has an episode on weird hunting techniques that features the bolas spider and how they get around that fact. Anyway, the scales shed /really/ easily. That's why moths are so damn dusty.

    • @AmyraCarter
      @AmyraCarter Před 5 lety +5

      All insects with *_venous_* wings are like that; moths' wings just have a different texture.
      Oh? Which insects?
      Flies, dragonflies, most bees (not wasps or hornets), butterflies, glowflies, moths (which are technically butterflies), and though they're not insects, bats have venous wings as well (rub them enough and you'll get some 'dust').

  • @breadb4176
    @breadb4176 Před 7 lety +2

    A small community north of where I am from is one of three of four sites where Minamata has been effecting our water sources. Dr Harada, from Japan, was the world's leading researcher and community safety advocate. The Ontario government JUST committed to cleaning up the region, 50 years after Dr Harada began raising the alarm. It's so disappointing but on to a future with clean water

  • @breadb4176
    @breadb4176 Před 5 lety +7

    Similar thing happened to the English River in Northwestern Ontario when the Dryden Mill dumped effluent, containing mercury, into the river bed in the 60s and 70s. Despite knowing that the methylmercury has been causing damage to the community of Grassy Narrows since the 70s (researchers from Japan began studying the area in 70s) the Ontario government and Weyerhaeuser Co have brought their case to the Supreme Court of Canada to dispute who will pay for the clean up. It's been nearly 50 years and no one has accepted they have poisoned the waterway, plants, food and people upstream of the mill! It's absolutely disgusting. Why not shine a little light on the fact that these toxins are still a problem, despite Japan being involved for decades? Thanks!

  • @wabbitnred3609
    @wabbitnred3609 Před 5 lety +4

    JUST THE THOUGHT OF THAT MAKES ME CRY!

  • @Just-A-Trans-Girl
    @Just-A-Trans-Girl Před 3 lety +4

    "Inorganic and organic compounds don't want to mix, they are sorta like oil and water"
    I love what you did there😺

  • @Schmungus
    @Schmungus Před 7 lety +6

    This video was released very coincidentally for me, I just started reading This Borrowed Earth which covered minamata disease in the first chapter!

  • @Adam-ui3yn
    @Adam-ui3yn Před 2 lety +3

    I remember watching a video of the affected locals in an environmental class in college. It looked like something out of a nightmare, some of the students in my class actually started crying.

  • @biscoito1r
    @biscoito1r Před 7 lety +41

    Here is a good question: how come some fruits are able to ripe after you remove them from the tree, vine, etc and other don't ?

    • @tacothedank
      @tacothedank Před 6 lety +5

      pheromones (or something), they release them from themselves and in the process tell other fruits to ripen as well, thats why when you put like a green banana and a ripe mango together for a while, the banana ripens rapidly
      when others don't? i guess they just dont react idfk

    • @dickJohnsonpeter
      @dickJohnsonpeter Před 5 lety +2

      All I know is the fruit I get from the store is picked *way* too early so it goes bad before it even ripens. Especially bananas and kiwis, but mangos and other stuff too.

    • @ugaladh
      @ugaladh Před 5 lety +2

      Apples release ethylene which slows ripening in some veggies. put an apple in your potato bag.

    • @gewgulkansuhckitt9086
      @gewgulkansuhckitt9086 Před 4 lety

      Amylase (an enzyme) converts the starch in the fruit to simple sugars, thus making the fruit taste sweeter. Starch is like the polymer equivalent of sugar. It's a long chain where the links of the chain are sugar molecules. Starch doesn't taste particularly sweet, but the sugars that it's made of are of course very sweet.
      Pectinase (an enzyme) breaks down pectin, making the fruit softer.
      Ethylene gas is often the trigger that starts the whole process.
      plantphys.info/plants_human/fruitgrowripe.shtml

    • @raymondfrye5017
      @raymondfrye5017 Před 4 lety

      @@tacothedank review your biochem.

  • @DonDorgatho
    @DonDorgatho Před 7 lety +8

    could you please do an Episode on Encephalitis lethargica?
    Its this wierd inflammation of the brain that might have been linked to the spanish flu.
    It caused the wierdest neurological symptoms like severe parkinsonism and its still quite a big mystery because there havent been many cases since the early 20th century

  • @bripez
    @bripez Před 7 lety +64

    This made me really sad because cats are my faves

  • @rainydaylady6596
    @rainydaylady6596 Před 7 lety +19

    Begs the question of where they dump now, assuming the company still exists.

    • @Cryptonymicus
      @Cryptonymicus Před 5 lety

      It doesn't actually beg the question because virtually no one you've heard using this phrase understands what it actually means. Explanation here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question

  • @Noone-of-your-Business
    @Noone-of-your-Business Před 4 lety +2

    1:00 - How would anyone need to dump the remains of a _catalyst_ into the river?? A catalyst, by definition, is a substance that enables or accelarates a chemical reaction *without being altered in the process.* So why on earth would anyone _dump_ perfectly good mercury that you can recycle endlessly?

  • @ttrev007
    @ttrev007 Před 6 lety +8

    Just think of all the fun we will have when this happens in the US. Not that the corporations are in charge of the EPA and they are already starting to deregulate our water supplies this kind of crap is bound to happen hear.

  • @methyllithium323
    @methyllithium323 Před 6 lety +12

    I'm a simple man - I see dancing cats, and I immediately click... then cry for the poor lost souls. And those of people as well.

  • @inquaanate2393
    @inquaanate2393 Před 7 lety +9

    It's not just a carbon attached to a mercury, it's three hydrogens on that carbon too to make methyl mercury.

    • @corbeaudejugement
      @corbeaudejugement Před 4 lety

      finally! methyl groups are CH3 and methylmercury is CH3Hg, not CHg.

  • @philpaine3068
    @philpaine3068 Před 3 lety +2

    The tragedy of Minamata was repeated in Canada in the 1960s and 1970s. The victims were primarily members of the Grassy Narrows and Whitedog First Nations in northern Ontario. The culprits were the Dryden Chemical Company and the Dryden Pulp and Paper Company. It is estimated that 9,000 kg of mercury had been dumped by the companies into a river that flowed through communities that lived primarily by traditional hunting and fishing. Doctors came from Japan to investigate.

  • @Catssonova
    @Catssonova Před 7 lety +46

    God this sounds horrible.

    • @csgas0
      @csgas0 Před 7 lety +5

      It is.

    • @jcass2035
      @jcass2035 Před 7 lety +4

      It's even worse when you the videos of victims

  • @alexcarter8807
    @alexcarter8807 Před 4 lety +2

    I first read about this in "The Edge Of The Sea" by Rachel Carson, when I was 13 or so, and it creeped me out. All of Carson's writings are very much worth hunting down and reading.

  • @WildBillCox13
    @WildBillCox13 Před 7 lety +25

    A very interesting story. One that may soon be repeated in my little community as industries re-invest in it, hoping for better tax structure and lowered controls . . . which equal larger profits.
    This is why corporations need civilian, nonpartisan, oversight. The owners, knowing what they were doing to the population of the town, just kept doing it until the government made them stop. Pure evil in human form, but, to them, it was all about profits and overhead . . . lives lost were considered "acceptable" unless, or until, the effects were traced back to the owners.
    This is why organizations cannot be allowed to police themselves. They-all organizations-have different criteria for 'health" than we do as individuals, parents, and members of the community. The difference in philosophy costs us big time in long term health effects. And, even today, many owners wear blinders when it comes to spending hard earned (or cunningly cheated) profits on improving their environmental impact, even if it saves innocent lives.
    This is why I pursue my thankless task of raising awareness of pollution dangers, when all the industries just hope I shut up and leave them make money. I simply do not trust people who place profit before the lives of innocents.
    Neither should you.

  • @gabiroman5099
    @gabiroman5099 Před 7 lety +1

    Hank I want you to know that you did a greater job than any of my teachers ever did!!! Thank you Hank for all that you do for us!

  • @Drsouravc
    @Drsouravc Před 7 lety +7

    Are mosquitoes more attracted towards a specific blood group? Please reply.

    • @stuffums
      @stuffums Před 6 lety +1

      Veritasium channel solved this

  • @ryco105
    @ryco105 Před 7 lety

    Hank , you make me laugh because of your sense if humor , don't stop making these videos on any channel , you or your bro

  • @remliqa
    @remliqa Před 7 lety +11

    The story does sound like something out of Junji Ito's mind in parts.

  • @shadow_wolf2158
    @shadow_wolf2158 Před 2 lety +1

    Doing a school presentation on the topic of Minamata and this really helped

  • @yonkiriati
    @yonkiriati Před 7 lety +39

    can you make a video about earthquakes lights?

    • @OakenTome
      @OakenTome Před 7 lety +1

      Ethan Badge Google it maybe?

    • @1MarkKeller
      @1MarkKeller Před 7 lety +13

      light phenomenon see in the sky before earthquakes. Some suggest it is piezoelectric based.

    • @SciShow
      @SciShow  Před 7 lety +35

      We'll look into it! Thanks for the suggestion! -Alyssa

    • @JamesPeach
      @JamesPeach Před 7 lety

      Yon Ki
      It's due to the electrical lines.
      I think.

    • @lemerkin3633
      @lemerkin3633 Před 7 lety +2

      Rmmc 1203 what’s the point of having this CZcams channel if everyone just googled it

  • @ghost_ship_supreme
    @ghost_ship_supreme Před 6 lety +2

    "Sir! Scientists suspect the toxic waste we're dumping in the lake is poisonous!"
    "Ehh, let's just wait 12 years"

  • @marilynlucero9363
    @marilynlucero9363 Před 7 lety +6

    Poor kitties :(

  • @sicktoaster
    @sicktoaster Před 7 lety +1

    Minamata learned its lesson. They got rid of the toxins with sludge dredging between 1977 and 1990 and the bay was declared safe in 1997. In 2005 it won a prize for being Japan's top eco-city.

  • @nathanmcnee3343
    @nathanmcnee3343 Před 7 lety +4

    1:17 There go my weekend plans

  • @crucialblue
    @crucialblue Před 7 lety

    Super informative, guys, thanks for the video! Never heard of this situation before, glad to see it brought out.

  • @XZenon
    @XZenon Před 7 lety +3

    2:48
    "Oil" and "Water"... I see what you did there.

  • @Nirsterkur
    @Nirsterkur Před 3 lety +1

    Thanks for the explanation.

  • @peterclarke166
    @peterclarke166 Před 7 lety +20

    Can you do a video behind the science about losing your voice and why it occurs?

  • @Zargak21
    @Zargak21 Před 7 lety +2

    The first time I heard of this event was in a video about dark souls 3's final dlc. They went quite in depth and even had quotes from people who lived during it.

  • @pandapoogey
    @pandapoogey Před 6 lety +3

    This would have been helpful 2 months ago when I wrote a review on methylmercury 😆 great video!

  • @tammystratford7079
    @tammystratford7079 Před 5 lety +1

    I used to eat it and rub it on my skin when I was little. I had a habit of stealing thermometers from people's houses and breaking them just so I could play with it. Sick all the time as a kid.

  • @ssurnamrog
    @ssurnamrog Před 7 lety +5

    A truly great and horrific photojournalism portfolio by W. Eugene Smith of Life Magazine and Magnum photos documents this tragedy and helped lead the way to the Love Canal battle and to the environmental movement of today : pro.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&ALID=2TYRYDDWZXTR it's well worth the effort to find a copy of the original book and ( if you are lucky enough to see them) the original prints by W. Eugene Smith are stunning. An important part of the history of photography and of environmentalism.

  • @sorzin2289
    @sorzin2289 Před 4 lety +2

    One of Japans four great diseases. Itai-Itai disease to me was the worst. The residents of Toyama Prefecture suffered easily broken bones due to their bodies absorbing cadmium instead of calcium. Spinal and bone damage. Simply walking or coughing would lead to broken bones. All of these diseases were manmade caused by companies who didn't have to follow regulations, because there wasn't a regulatory agency like the EPA to enforce them.

  • @darkendtranquility
    @darkendtranquility Před 7 lety +7

    I guess you could say they were
    mad catters. plz kill me

  • @freddiebozwell7049
    @freddiebozwell7049 Před 4 lety +1

    As a kid in the UK, I remember seeing a documentary on a great series called Horizon. Methyl, phenol and organic mercury , sticks in my head. It also touched on mercury dressed seed in Iraq.

  • @xxXthekevXxx
    @xxXthekevXxx Před 6 lety +7

    Japanese tips for Hank:
    - “i” in Japanese always makes an “ee” sound
    - “a” always makes an “ah” sound
    - “ch” never makes a “sh” sound.
    So “Chisso” is pronounced “chee-so”, and “Minamata” is “mee-nah-mah-tah” :)

  • @kittychan3645
    @kittychan3645 Před 5 lety

    Yes! Love your new look!! Also love your informative, intelligent manor. Show your vids to my science class all the time!!

  • @jacquiz.6837
    @jacquiz.6837 Před 7 lety +4

    Now *that's* a video title!!!

  • @eleven11three
    @eleven11three Před 5 lety +1

    The current Empress of Japan is related to Chisso. Her grandfather, yutaka egashira insults the victim for being "poor" and blame the disease on "rotten" fish the victim's ate.
    The minamata case is abandoned to not hurt imperial family's honour.
    Chisso also hired yakuza to beat up Eugene Smith.

  • @JoaoPessoa86
    @JoaoPessoa86 Před 7 lety +6

    My family has a Life magazine photo book from my great grandfather with pictures from the story they did on the birth defects

  • @wiwaxiasilver827
    @wiwaxiasilver827 Před 4 lety +2

    Well... we know from Dr. Karen Wetterhahn’s case that dimethylmercury is even more potent and lethal, but yep, methylmercury is extremely dangerous and the culprit behind so many horrors that descended in Minamata as the namesake disease...

  • @yassershkeir2340
    @yassershkeir2340 Před 7 lety +3

    i spent half the vid looking at the spaceship on his shirt

  • @KenColangelo
    @KenColangelo Před 7 lety

    Well done. A great bit of quick, if horrible, information. Well explained and relevant.

  • @goldenhydreigon4727
    @goldenhydreigon4727 Před 4 lety +3

    Minamata Disease: *exists*
    Cats: *THEY'RE GROOVIN'*

  • @57hound
    @57hound Před 7 lety +1

    Horrifyingly fascinating story expertly presented.

  • @SuicideBunny6
    @SuicideBunny6 Před 6 lety +4

    Losing electrons to form positively-charged ions, now THAT'S Heavy Metal ! 🤘🤘

  • @AlvinLee007
    @AlvinLee007 Před 7 lety

    Hank doesn't disappoint.

  • @ErosAnteros
    @ErosAnteros Před 7 lety +5

    I think you should have highlighted that Chisso was dumping mercury sulfide because it was considered inert. They didn't predict the effects of the thiophytic bacteria...

    • @normalpeopleboreme
      @normalpeopleboreme Před 6 lety +3

      Nic Forster dumping mercury is never a good idea. There are even specific rules about how to dispose of household things that contain small amounts. They knew that it was a dangerous chemical and that they were adding it to an eco system. They didn’t know exactly what would happen but they did know that they probably shouldn’t do it.

    • @stupidvids0
      @stupidvids0 Před 5 lety

      Shouldn't dump anything that didn't already exist there... lol

  • @lkhjsdfg
    @lkhjsdfg Před 7 lety

    I just learned that John and Hank are brothers. The world makes so much sense now.

  • @jeremiaholszewski1844
    @jeremiaholszewski1844 Před 7 lety +26

    Note to self, Dancing Cat videos=DEATH

  • @lisamedlin96
    @lisamedlin96 Před 4 lety

    Very informative. This does and will apply to today and future events of problems here on this planet.

  • @thuzan117
    @thuzan117 Před 7 lety +46

    don't worry, the free market will sort out stuff like this.

    • @ScreamingForClemency
      @ScreamingForClemency Před 7 lety +31

      lol. the sad thing is, TONS of people actually believe that.
      it's like history doesn't exist for some people.

    • @TheGreatRakatan
      @TheGreatRakatan Před 7 lety +9

      Oh boy, how many people liked this comment without understanding the sarcasm.

    • @spindash64
      @spindash64 Před 7 lety +9

      And that's why we have the Food and Drug Acts. Look, let's be real, most people DON'T want an entirely free market because of stuff like this. When people say free market, they mean more not having the government fix prices or fiddle too much with businesses. This sort of thing isn't even a free market thing, it's just arresting people for mass manslaughter with full awareness of the harm of their actions.
      Sorry, I probably went a bit overboard. Just tired of everything going on, with so many people acting like middle ground doesn't exist

    • @94Newbie
      @94Newbie Před 7 lety +3

      those people commited a crime even under the most free market you could think of. the problem is that "the commons" meaning occeans and other public land fall in the responsibility of the goverment that owns it. of course the owner in needs to ensure that no harm is done to its property by the people using it. if local coastal areas were owned privatly, (with the limitation of free passage), enviromental protection would be easy. the fishery wich would likely own that property wouldnt take kindly to industrial waste poisoning fish nor to overfishing to take another enviromental problem. so the problem is not with the ideal free market but rather its a problem of a mixed system, requiring a mixed solution. also even under a minarchist system dumping toxic waste etc. in the water would be illegal. the only legitimate role for goverment to play is to protect life and liberty of the people. the example of the video clearly falls under protect live.

  • @Emapluscjj
    @Emapluscjj Před 7 lety

    Very interesting and informative!

  • @abedfadila9266
    @abedfadila9266 Před 7 lety +3

    Why is your outro so quite BUT YOUR INTRO SO LOUD!!!??

  • @nikkib8811
    @nikkib8811 Před 7 lety +1

    This was a horrible thing to happen :( I don't know if it was similar but my Father had mercury poisoning as a child. He was given teething powders (in the 1940's) that contained mercury (I've been unable to find out whether it was a manufacturing mistake or whether all the teething powders were made like that and my Father was more sensitive to it.)The doctor told my Grandma to take him home to die. He lived, but it affected his lungs and caused something called pinks disease. He worked as a coalminer when he grew up, further damaging his lungs. Sadly he died at the age of 62 years old as a result :(

    • @user-ov4wr5yu4r
      @user-ov4wr5yu4r Před rokem

      Wow. I'm so sorry to hear that. I would like to know more. I hadn't heard of my grandparents or anyone using a powder. I think they suggested frozen banana if I recall.

    • @nikkib8811
      @nikkib8811 Před rokem

      @@user-ov4wr5yu4r Hi, thankyou. I remember my Dad telling me the powders were called something like Phennicks/Fennicks powders. The strange thing is that there was literally only 3 years between my Dad and 3 of his siblings ( as was common in the 1940's) so it's likely my Grandparents would have used the same products on the children, but my Dad was the youngest at that point, so maybe it was a new product or something, or maybe my Dad had a particularly bad reaction to it. My Dad was small for his age, even when he started working down the mine at the age of 15 years, but between then and 18 years he had a growth spurt and grew to be 6 feet tall. My parents were young parents( Mum 19 years and Dad 21 years) but they worked hard. My Dad never gave in to any health problems. I wish he'd have lived longer, I miss him dearly and it's been 14 years since he passed, but I look at it this way, considering everything, I was lucky to have had him in my life at all 😊

  • @DrPhil-tn2pn
    @DrPhil-tn2pn Před 7 lety +61

    oi

  • @rigrentals5297
    @rigrentals5297 Před 7 lety

    as a current chemistry student, I loved all the chem talk in this video.

  • @yonkiriati
    @yonkiriati Před 7 lety +30

    0:49
    acidic acid?
    is there also poisonous poison?
    and venomous venom?

  • @Michael18599
    @Michael18599 Před 6 lety

    Interesting bit about where the Mad Hatter came from! Thanks!

  • @terryweaver9140
    @terryweaver9140 Před 7 lety +26

    Saying that s chemical disguises it's self is a little wrong as a chemical has no agency. It would be more correct to say the body mistakes it.

    • @MephLeo
      @MephLeo Před 7 lety +9

      Well, if you are going to be strictly correct, that won't do either. It would have to be said that the methylmercury has some characteristic as such that some biochemical process accepts it in the place of the other molecule. But it is a mere figure of speech, I can't see where's the harm in saying that the chemical disguises itself.

    • @terryweaver9140
      @terryweaver9140 Před 7 lety +1

      Leopoldo Aranha I'd argue that your phrasing is just a long winded (not a value judgement) way of saying the same as my suggestion. The issue is that the one taking action is the system of the body not the chemical. Would it be correct to say fools gold disguises it's self to trick people?

    • @MephLeo
      @MephLeo Před 7 lety +10

      To my mind, saying it's a body's mistake also implies some degree of consciousness to the various chemical compounds themselves. They're not mistaken when they take one molecule in the place of the other, it's just that there shouldn't be any methylmercury laying around, but since there is, the biochemical processes will take it in as well because of how they work.
      What I'm saying is that using a figure of speech to simplify an explanation for people to understand that the ingestion of something is bad for their organism isn't a mistake in itself. No one will take it literally and think methylmercury is a CZcams prankster ready to make tasteless practical jokes on unsuspecting molecules of a living organism. It says the essential, i.e., that dumping methylmercury into the environment puts people in danger, without going into technical details that would make the video longer, baring in mind that it has to appeal to a wide range of audiences. In my opinion, in this context it is not a mistake, just a way of using association via a figure of speech to help understanding.

    • @sparky663
      @sparky663 Před 7 lety +1

      who cares

    • @Abuanas2019
      @Abuanas2019 Před 7 lety

      Junai
      D jamsheed naths

  • @Hailstormand
    @Hailstormand Před 6 lety

    This kind of videos spark my interest in chemistry.