For several decades mercury has been recognized to be a very
toxic component in our environment. The mad hatters of old (made famous
in Alice in Wonderland) became afflicted when they used mercury to
strengthen the brims of the hats they made. In 1956, in Minamata, Japan,
an epidemic of strange symptoms including numbness, paralysis, birth
defects, convulsions and, in some cases, death struck a number of
fishing families in this coastal village. It took several years before
it was recognized these symptoms, eponymously named Minamata disease,
were caused by a chemical plant which had been releasing mercury into
local waters.
Canada has also had incidents of mercury poisoning. In 1969 for
example, a pulp and paper mill near Dryden, Ont., was found to be
releasing mercury which eventually found its way into fish. When people
from the local White Dog and Grassy Narrows First Nations consumed the
fish, they fell ill.
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