The government must relax its strict criteria for officially recognizing victims of Minamata disease so more people can receive compensation, according to panelists at a symposium on the mercury-poisoning disease.
Recognizing a woman posthumously as a Minamata disease victim in a landmark ruling in April, the Supreme Court called for providing relief to a wider range of sufferers.
But the Environment Ministry, which is in charge of the Minamata issue, has refused to review the 1977 criteria that require a combination of sensory disorders plus other symptoms for someone to be officially recognized as a patient eligible for redress.