Chisso
Industry | Chemical |
---|---|
Predecessor | Sogi Electric Company |
Founded | 1906 in Ōkuchi, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan |
Founder | Shitagau Noguchi |
Headquarters | |
Products | Liquid crystal |
Owner | Mizuho Bank (4.90%) |
Website | www |
The Chisso Corporation (チッソ株式会社, Chisso kabushiki kaisha), since 2012 reorganized as JNC (Japan New Chisso),
Between 1932 and 1968, Chisso's chemical factory in Minamata released large quantities of industrial wastewater that was contaminated with highly toxic methylmercury.[2] This poisonous water bioaccumulated in local sea life that was then consumed by the immediate population. As a result of this contamination, 2,265 individuals in the area were afflicted with what is now known as Minamata disease. 1,784 of those victims died as a result of the poisoning and/or the disease.[3] Those who were afflicted with the disease developed skeletomuscular deformities and lost the ability to perform motor functions such as walking. Many also lost significant amounts of vision, as well as hearing and speech capabilities. Severe cases presented with insanity, paralysis, coma and then death within weeks of the onset of symptoms.
As of March 2001, over 10,000 individuals had received financial remuneration from Chisso to compensate them for the harm caused by the chemical release.[4] By 2004, Chisso Corporation had paid $86 million in compensation, and, in the same year, the company was ordered to clean up its contamination.[5] However, the incident remains controversial for not only the poisoning itself but also for the tactics that the company used to suppress the negative aftermath.[6]
Chisso is a member of the Mizuho keiretsu.
History
Foundation
In 1906,
Expansion
In 1909, Noguchi purchased the rights to the
Production of ammonium sulfate (another chemical fertilizer) started in 1914 at a plant in Kagami, Kumamoto Prefecture, using a nitrogen fixation process - a Japan first. Sales of ammonium sulfate were increasing year-on-year as were market prices. A new plant was opened at the Minamata factory in 1918 where it was able to produce ammonium sulfate for 70 yen per ton and sell it for five and a half times the cost. These massive profits enabled Nichitsu to survive the subsequent drop in prices after the return of foreign competition into the Japanese market after the end of World War I in Europe in September 1918.
After the war, Noguchi visited Europe and decided Nichitsu should pioneer an alternative synthesis of
Nichitsu grew steadily, invested its profits in new technology and expanded production into new areas and slowly became a large conglomerate of many different companies.[7]
Nichitsu in Korea
In 1924, Shitagau Noguchi expanded Nichitsu into Korea, a colony of Japan.
In 1926, he established two companies in Korea as subsidiaries of Nichitsu, mirroring the foundation of the parent company: Korea Hydroelectric Power Company (朝鮮水力電気株式会社, Chōsen Suiryoku Denki Kabushiki Kaisha) and Korea Nitrogenous Fertilizer Company (朝鮮窒素肥料株式会社, Chōsen Chisso Hiryō Kabushiki Kaisha). Noguchi wanted to repeat his success in Ōkuchi and Minamata, but on an even greater scale in Korea.
The power company constructed hydroelectric power plants along rivers draining into the Yalu River. In 1927, the fertilizer subsidiary built a huge chemical complex in Hungnam. The hydroelectric power plants supplied electricity for the chemical plant, in the same way as the Ōkuchi power plant had done so for the Minamata chemical factory.
Nichitsu invested in Korea more aggressively than any other Japanese company. It and its subsidiaries grew rapidly in Korea, and came to be recognized as an emerging zaibatsu.
The difference between Nichitsu's zaibatsu and established zaibatsu like Mitsubishi and Mitsui was that Nichitsu did not have its own bank and insurance company. Hence, Nichitsu relied on government-controlled banks.
Dissolution and reorganization
As Japan lost the
In 1950, the New Japan Nitrogenous Fertilizer Company (新日本窒素肥料株式会社, Shin Nihon Chisso Hiryō Kabushiki Kaisha), usually referred to as Shin Nichitsu, was founded as a successor of the old company. Other successor companies include Asahi Kasei and Sekisui Chemical.
Minamata disease
Nichitsu had started production of
This chemical was absorbed by fish and shellfish and bioaccumulated up the food chain. People who unknowingly ate the fish over many years suffered from severe mercury poisoning. Hajime Hosokawa, a doctor at a Shin Nichitsu's company hospital, officially reported on May 1, 1956 an "epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system", marking the official discovery of Minamata disease.
In 1963, doctors at
Chisso president, later chairman Yutaka Egashira (later maternal grandfather of
In addition, Chisso had American photographer and photo-journalist W. Eugene Smith beaten by yakuza goons after Smith published a highly regarded photo-essay showing the caustic injuries and birth defects Chisso had caused the Minamata population.[9][10] The centerpiece of the work, titled "Tomoko and Mother in the Bath", depicted the severe deformation of a child in her mother's arms after the child was exposed to the effects of Chisso's contamination of the water supply. In response to Chisso's beating of W. Eugene Smith for dissemination of the photographs, Smith was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal in 1974 for "best published photographic reporting from abroad requiring exceptional courage and enterprise".[11]
The company's "historical overview" in its current website makes no mention of their role in the mass contamination of Minamata and the dreadful aftermath, although a separate section of the website, accessed from the same list as the overview, is devoted to the subject.
See also
- LCD
- Liquid crystal
- Minamata disease
- Four big pollution diseases of Japan
- Minamata, Kumamoto
- Industrial waste
- Chemical waste
- Zaibatsu
References
- ^ "Chisso Company Profile". Retrieved 21 October 2012.
- ^ Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld, by David E. Kaplan & Alec Dubro
- ^ Official government figure as of March 2001. See "Minamata Disease: The History and Measures, ch2"
- ^ See "Minamata Disease Archives" Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, Frequently asked questions, Question 6
- Diagnosis Mercury: Money, Politics and Poison, Island Press, p. 77.
- ^ Japan Focus: Minamata at 50: The Tragedy Deepens
- ISBN 0-674-00785-9.
- ^ ISBN 0-520-21561-3.
- OCLC 19981194.
- ^ Jim Hughes. "Tomoko Uemura, R.I.P." Retrieved 2007-11-12.
- ^ "The Robert Capa Gold Medal". Overseas Press Club of America. 1974. Archived from the original on 2007-11-05. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
- ^ "特措法に基づく水俣病問題の解決にあたって | 水俣病問題について|チッソ株式会社".
- ^ FY2004 and FY2005 Archived 2010-07-19 at WebCite financial results. URL retrieved 2008-03-07.
External links
- (in Japanese) Chisso Corporation
- (in Japanese) JNC Corporation
- Masters of Photography W. Eugene Smith: Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath, Minamata, 1972