Japan, poisoning

M. Kuratsune and R. E. Shapiro, PCB Poisoning in Japan and Taiwan Alan R. Liss, New York, 1984. 

Mercury is emitted from the mercury cell process from ventilation systems and by-product streams. Control techniques include (1) condensation, (2) mist elimination, (3) chemical scrubbing, (4) activated carbon adsorption, and (5) molecular sieve absorption. Several mercury cell (chloralkali) plants in Japan have been converted to diaphragm cells to eliminate the poisonous levels of methyl mercury found in fish (9). 

Another major incident concerning methyl mercury was the severe pollution of Minamata bay in Japan (see Box 8.1). Here fish, fish-eating and scavenging birds, and humans feeding upon fish all died from organomercury poisoning. There may have been localized declines of marine species in this area due to methyl mercury, but there is no clear evidence of this. 

Tetrodotoxin poisoning has been recogniz for more than two thousand years. Japanese historical records show that the consumption of certain species of pufferOsh (Tetraodon spp.) resulted in paralytic intoxication (8), This problem continues in modern times in various i ian countries, especially Japan, where pufferfish are still regarded as a delicacy. Clinical symptoms of TTX intoxication include numbness, paralysis, and in some instances death. In fact, the "zombie state described in the Voodoo religion has been attributed to TTX in potions derived from pufferOsh (9). 

The Raney nickel is a very efficient catalyst for the dehydrogenation of 2-butanol into butanone (Scheme 45) with a good selectivity (90%). But, for industrial applications selectivities as high as 99% are required. This can be achieved by poisoning some sites by reaction with Bu4Sn (the best results are obtained with a Sn/Ni ratio of 0.02), which probably occurs first on the sites responsible for the side reactions. The consequence is a slight decrease of the catalytic activity and an increase of the selectivity in 2-butanone which can reach 99%. This catalyst, developed by IFF, has been used commercially in Japan for several years [180]. 

Oogane, T., Hirata, A., Funatogawa, K., Kobayashi, K., Sato, T., and Kimura, H. (2008). Food poisoning outbreak caused by norovirus GII/4 in school lunch, Tochigi prefecture, Japan. ]pn. ]. Infect. Dis. 61, 423 24. 

Harada, M., Minamata disease Methylmercury poisoning in Japan caused by environmental pollution,... 

In the book The Safe Use of Pesticides While Intensifying Agricultural Production [21], the paragraphs on polychlorpinen in beet fields were lost among data linked to OCP contamination of breast milk in Japan, the USA, and Sweden the dangers to the inhabitants of Italy from herbicide contamination of the Po river the poisoning of the inhabitants of the USA and Canada by watermelon from a plantation treated with pesticides and many other facts. Here is the text on the beet fields ... 

In order to understand the picture of events in the USSR more fully, we should recall similar events in Japan. There, the first signs of poisoning by organomercury compounds were noted in 1956 12 years later all OMPs were banned without exception. 

Ochiai, K., K. Hoshiko, K. Jin, T. Tsuzuki, and C. Itakura. 1993a. A survey of lead poisoning in wild waterfowl in Japan. Jour. Wildl. Dis. 29 349-352. 

Davies, F.C.W. 1991. Minamata disease a 1989 update on the mercury poisoning epidemic in Japan. Environ. Geochem. Health 13 35-38. 

Kojima, K. and M. Fujita. 1973. Summary of recent studies in Japan on methyl mercury poisoning. Toxicology 1 43-62. 

During the 1970s-1980s, a famous catastrophe of human poisoning by mercury and cadmium struck Japan, and this attracted anthropogenic attention to ecological and ecotoxicological problems related to heavy metals. These were uncovered to be influenced by two characteristic peculiarities of the behavior of heavy metals in the environment ... 

The most severe form of chronic cadmium (Cd) poisoning caused by prolonged oral Cd ingestion is Itai-itai disease, which developed in numerous inhabitants of the Jinzu River basin in Toyama Prefecture, Japan in the 1950s (Figure 20.7). For the first time, cadmium pollution was shown to have severe consequences on human health, particularly in women. The most important effects were softening of the bones and kidney failure. The name of the disease is derived from the painful screams (Japanese /to/) caused by the severe pain in the... 

---