123
victims suffering from disease. Methylmercury poisoning in the Minamata area
remains unknown as shown in Fig. 6.1 (Harada 2004). Updating the knowledge on
methylmercury poisoning must be continued.
6.2.4 How to Frame the Problems of the Minamata Disease
Based on the aforementioned circumstances, this section explains how people have
interpreted the problems of Minamata Disease based on different framings.
6.2.5 What Was the Cause of Minamata Disease? (Scientific
Framing)
The first way of framing the problems of Minamata disease focuses on what caused
of Minamata disease. The answer to this question is clear now, although it took an
inordinate amount of time (12  years) before the Japanese government officially
declared that methylmercury is, with no doubt whatsoever, the substance acknowledged as the cause of the disease.
Certified
Patients
(3,000 people)
Political settlement
1995
(11,000 people)
Relief under the Special
Measures Act of 2010
(65,000 applications)
Sufferers
e
k
a
t
n
i
y
r
u
c
r
e
m
l
y
h
t
e
M
high
low
Death, Acute
(paralysis, convulsions, loss of
consciousness)
Combination of symptoms
(disturbance of sensation, ataxia, …
Only disturbance
of sensation
Atypical
symptoms
Lump-sum payment
(16-18 million JPY)
Lump-sum payment
(2.6 million JPY)
Lump-sum payment
(2.1 million JPY)
Fig. 6.1 Compensation and relief. (Adopted from Harada 2004). ∗Numbers have been rounded to
thousands for easier understanding
6 Role in Framing in Sustainability Science ― The Case of Minamata Disease