More than 140 countries negotiating in Geneva on Jan. 19 agreed on a treaty to limit emissions and releases of mercury, which can cause serious environmental pollution and health hazards. This treaty represents the first step in global efforts to prevent environmental and health damage from mercury.
It was named the Minamata Convention on Mercury after the city in Kumamoto Prefecture where wastewater containing methyl-mercury was released by Chisso Corp.'s chemical factory into the sea, causing dreadful birth and neurological defects among thousands of people.
Minamata disease, discovered in 1956, showed governments and people around the world that mercury pollution causes serious and irreparable health damage.