The 'Dancing Cat' Disaster of Japan | Minamata Explained

[@Cruznick06]

The reason the cats were affected so much sooner than humans was not only due to their size but also the parts of the fish that were thrown out as scraps. The organs had greater amounts of mercury than the flesh. Shinzo Co. denied their culpability in the disaster for decades and even buried the work of one of their physicians. They stuck to the story of "we aren't dumping organic mercury so it isn't us" far longer than they should have. The whole disaster actually inspired the story and world of Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind.

[@liquidmech1727]

Wait what

[@MultiPunci]

Woah, did it actually inspire the ghibli movie? That’s amazing, never thought of that. I gotta rewatch it with that new perspective 😄 Thanks for the info dude

[@sobek6735]

Pretty cool to see a comment that is not “ please like this comment! I need to validate my ego!”

[@hotaruishere2133]

Oh wow, I knew Nausicaa was a story about taking care of the environment, but I had no idea that its roots came from something specific like this. That's so sad, and interesting, for a lack of better words.

[@repzgaming5]

And that one episode in Avatar The Last Airbender

[@TheTomBevis]

Isn't that the way it always goes? Spend 12 years proving the damage before a corporation will spend a penny to stop the poisoning.

[@thominaduncanson8003]

The corporations have forgotten the most important court appearance--when they must stand before the great white throne, and answer for the deaths and injury to the planet to the Creator, Almighty God--and I do NOT think that their court appearance will go well. Should have thought of that before...🐺🇺🇸

[@TheDarrenPR]

God is nothing more than a fictional character designed for the purposes of controlling people by fear. He's the most blatant yet overlooked example of terrorism in the world. There is no judgement after death and no punishment for these foul businessmen.

[@thominaduncanson8003]

+DarrenPR One day you WILL wake up, and realize the best Friend you could ever have is your King Jesus Christ, who died for your sins so that you could have an abundant life here, and eternal life with joys forever with His Father, Almighty God. God does not terrorize anyone, but He does have rules that cannot be broken, and unfortunately humans have a natural bent for breaking rules..."for all have sinned and fallen short". Thankfully, Jesus has paid the price of everyone's sins, and all you need to do to access this "payment in full" for your sins is to repent, and ask Jesus into your heart. I guarantee that it will be the best decision you have ever made! 😁🇺🇸

[@MrAntieMatter]

Why the hell did you have to throw religion into this!?

[@putridamayanti2326]

The emoji suggests that they're trolling

[@rareroe305]

Just from the video title, I was thinking "Ooooh, did they act weird when they knew an earthquake was coming or something?" The real video was much more depressing.

[@alvingillarlera]

rareroe305 i checked comment section before the video. Thought there would be dancing cats. Was unpleasantly surprised

[@naturegirl1999]

@LagiNaLangAko23 the problem is the people who did that would get arrested for poisoning people, since the company indirectly did this, they dont get punished...the things money allows you to do...

[@zes3813]

wrg, no depresx for suchx, anyx

[@spindash64]

LagiNaLangAko23 Fellas, fellas, killing them is not the answer! We can’t afford to be that merciful, now can we?

[@rinhato8453]

I was thinking that maybe the hot springs were going haywire and heating up too much, which heated the ground and made the cats want to jump around to save their lil toe beans :c

[@jennifersakura8751]

My family is from Minamata. It is now one of the loveliest places to live. There are still residents who are still living with the effects of the poisoning.

[@whatshappenedhere1784]

Not gonna lie this comment is fairly bi-polar

[@FlyingDwarfman]

​@@whatshappenedhere1784 Huh? It's bipolar by by giving a personal experience that vilifies the general statements from the video? The place was once a perfect paradise, but became host to a great corporate horror of chemical waste poisoning. Now 40 years after the waste has stopped, the environment has mostly healed itself. However, we can still see remnants of that nearly 20-year horror story today -- in the form of survivors of mercury poisoning and the witnesses of the tragedy. Nothing "bipolar" about the comment beyond any inherent "bipolar-ness" of the story itself.

[@raymondfrye5017]

To Ms. Sakura: The government of Japan never did dredge the bay to chemically remove the mercury and other heavy metals on the bottom. Regards

[@vadastory2348]

Its Really a nice town

[@-mousemicemices-2158]

@Allan Sneddon No, in exchange for giving a pittance of money to those impacted the court agreed to grant them immunity to being sued.

[@pierrecurie]

But it gets worse. The company basically said "It's so awful what happened to this quaint town. Because we're so generous and care about our community, we're offering money to those affected. Only condition is that you waive the right to sue us. We wouldn't want to bite the hand that feeds us, right?"

[@naturegirl1999]

This is terrible, if only there was a punishment that could actually deter people from doing things like this, not sure what would work though

[@vla1ne]

@Java Stone You know he was likely implying suing, shutting them down, and/or jailing them right? Sarcastic or no, the implication was fairly clear.

[@ix-Xafra]

Oh NDA, oh NDA your silence keeps us solvent...

[@HMan2828]

I honestly would have set the factory on fire.

[@OurFreeSociety]

@@naturegirl1999 - corporations like this do things that harm us or kill us ALL the time & the criminal gov'ts that are there to protect them let it go on. Please do some research. Just some examples 1. Cigarette companies 2. Monsanto - GMOs & glyphosate, but there are other companies that have produced all myriads of TOXIC pesticides & herbicides that we then eat & they harm us. 3. The Pharma mafia & that includes ALL drugs & vaccines 4. The fake food industry - absolutely NOTHING healthy about fake food. It's ALL made in a lab & they create it to work on your brain so you don't stop eating. It's literally NOT real food. 5. Gates & others who do geoengineering (actually the gov't is ion on this.) Geoengineering is what is causing ALL of the terrible weather issues we've been having for years. It's NOT global warming, it's the gov't doing this on puprose using the weather as a weapon. 6. All telecommunication companies - they have known for decades that wifi, cell phones, cell phone towers, all wifi/smart devices are toxic to the human body & to all insects & animals. It also passes the blood brain barrier. They are NOT allowed to be sued & they have been causing major diseases including cancer, infertility, & death. 7. Fluoride in the water. Totally toxic meant to dumb people down (it literally lowers IQ) & keep people docile so they don't have energy to fight back. There's more. This is a worldwide problem where the owners of the corporation are NOT allowed to be sued b/c once again, the criminal gov't that protects the elite are in on the criminal acts. They are either given money to keep quiet, given a cushy job that gives them prestige & lots of money, or they are blackmailed or threatened. And those are just the things that harm us health-wise, I haven't even started on all the ways the elite & gov't controls us as slaves.

[@deeslay6475]

Those cats were dancing to...................... Heavy metal

[@tman5926]

Yes man!

[@noahshomeforstrangeandeduc4431]

haha

[@ReenDuk]

NO

[@MeganMcIntosh]

Yeaaaaaaaaaaah!

[@mgmcd1]

Take your Like!

[@5iwot5]

12 years before even stopping the dumping... damn.

[@winterlarsime9938]

It reminds me of Itai Itai disease.

[@szlingozec8395]

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." and this folks is one of the reasons.

[@therealb888]

Szling Ozec Is this from the US constituition?

[@szlingozec8395]

b888 Yes I know this specific example did not happen in the United States. But this sort of action is not unique to Japan. Anyplace where greedy people have an opportunity to make a profit and the bystanders don't have a means of defense something like this happens sooner or later.

[@christianturley1701]

But... like non of the situations can be solved with guns.

[@Cythil]

This makes me a bit annoyed as people knew back in the 1950's that mercury was bad. A lot of other stuff was just mistakes. CFCs, Asbestos, and DDT were all not considered harmful when they were adopted. CFCs where for example know for not being reactive those should be pretty harmless. Asbestos had been used for a really long time but only in small quanties.

[@traplover6357]

Cythil mass production and polluting via dumping waste made these chemicals known to be dangerous.

[@Cloaked1000]

Not only that, but according to the Wikipedia page on the Chisso Corporation, they resorted to some pretty nasty tactics to try and suppress the news of it, such as hiring Yakuza (organised criminals) to beat people.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

What about the CFC-based "freeze-off" gum removers still produced in countries like China (and imported to the U.S. as well as others) up to the early 2000's? ...Or the open-burn methods of recovering metals from used electronics and computers that's popular in China even today? ...Or the gold mining industry all around the world STILL uses plain mercury as a means to enrich gold ore and extract gold... after which it's just "vented off" in a cooker to vaporize in open atmosphere... The bottom line is that every day there are probably hundreds of violations against the environment from practically every industry out there. Either it's just carelessness, or through authentic malice, people destroy far more than they should in the interest of making a quicker, easier, buck. Corporates justify paying fines over fixing anything because it's cheaper, and they only answer fiscally to stock-holders. Government officials only bother harassing people like you and me, over little crap because they get their rocks off pushing sh*t downhill... Mostly because they get nowhere against the corporate machines... It really hasn't changed much, and it's probably not going to. :o)

[@TasX]

+gnarth d'arkanen not really. We have made progress over the years. All the examples you refer to are now much smaller scale than they were 30 years ago. Think about it- just 40 years ago, everyone drove around a car that blew out lead-contaminated gas! Now, more and more cars are becoming completely emission-free. Same with tobacco. And this was done by both citizens and the government. So I don't really agree with what you say. No cooperation houses the majority of the population enough to influence the government to a degree that the government can just turn a blind eye to complaints from half the country

[@Cythil]

Anyone who still uses CFS, mercury or any other well know an environmentally bad chemical is not ignorant but simply being malicious. People like that do not go away just because we know thing are bad. And I am still annoyed that people like that sometimes get away. Overall, however, we use a lot less CFS, mercury and other bad chemicals than we did in the past. (Sometimes it still a case of ignorance, however. But then is often the blame of our institutions that do not educate our population well enough. A Japanse chemical company in the 50's, however, should know better and not have any excuse for dumping mercury in the environment. Then you willfully ignorant like how DuPont was willfully ignorent about how bad CFS where. )

[@aidanmacnaull3020]

Does anyone else find this like, legit horrifying?

[@jjc5475]

i shouldn't have watched this before sleeping.

[@turborooster8548]

john pardon for me it's 1 am right now

[@JoseGranny]

They should do a video on how much pollution our own corporations are responsible for.

[@williamnolan2321]

No then again I am writing a horror book

[@katec3963]

Yea makes me wonder who else is poinoning our water

[@midgefidget5796]

When I was a kid there was a pictoral article in Life Magazine. This video did little to convey the horror of what happened to these townspeople. I'm over 65 now and that one article remains as one of the most traumatic things to ever happen to me. The horror of it can not be conveyed in words. You did an excellent job and I actually thank you for not including pictures of the victoms.

[@user-ov4wr5yu4r]

That was some classic and highly disturbing photojournalism.

[@JudeTMi]

So i learnt about this in uni and the insidious thing is that the fishermen were initially pleased because the fish were easy to catch, also an even scarier fact is that the Chisso Corporation is still running today.

[@traekas7228]

Judy Tran, Sorry, but what’s uni? So, Chisso Corporation is still in business?? Without any repercussions at all for being at fault in that corporate coverup? All those Human deaths, illnesses, birth defects, and, not to mention all the Cats’ suffering, too. Again, just in case. What does “uni” stand for? Is it short for United States?

[@jkhs9055]

@@traekas7228 I think she means "university"

[@revimfadli4666]

@@traekas7228 i won't be surprised if their stakeholders had ties with the yakuza

[@Jade-g6p]

Cats are really animals of routine (from my observation). When the cats start acting weird, something is usually wrong. My cat saved me from a black widow by acting weird.

[@padmashreejewellers4055]

black widow spider? wow, you were so lucky. Its 2021 right now i hope you are still doing well and are safe. Even if anything is wrong please dont loose hope and keep this thing in mind that you will get through whatever you are going through. I hope you have a great life.

[@emberhermin52]

I'm not sure if you mean the spider or the figurative, human sense of the term... Either way, that's good cat

[@icarusbinns3156]

I know my blood sugars are starting to rise fast when one of our cats makes this weird grinding-crying noise while staring at me. She hates the smell of a high blood sugar, and wants me to fix it right away. She’s a good kitten (even if she does get noisy zoomies a couple times each night)

[@NoneRain_]

@@padmashreejewellers4055 dude, it was an spider, not cancer

[@padmashreejewellers4055]

@@NoneRain_ Spiders and cancers are equally horrifying for me.

[@mo_arrows2234]

0:53 Missed Opportunity to say CATalyst

[@BenjaminOienMB]

mowhawkarrows This company's catalyst carelessness caused a cation which couples with cyctene to catastrophic effect.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

CAT-ASS-TROPHY! RIGHT HERE!!! :o)

[@search895]

I like this CATegory of dad jokes.

[@heatherswanson1664]

What a CATastrophe.

[@search895]

nGon- Hey dont cat off our comuniCATion

[@rickiex]

So regulations are actually a good thing? Well, I'll be damned

[@billyosullivan4514]

Not all

[@Seek1878]

@@billyosullivan4514 Eat some mercury fish, why don't you?

[@billyosullivan4514]

@@Seek1878 not all obviously dumping dangerous waste in water is

[@eval_is_evil]

Would you like the state to regulate what brand of sport shoes you can buy even if it is made of the same stuff other sport shoes are made of? Ofcourse not. Not all regulation is good and not all deregulation is good. It depends if competent people chose to do it and if it works.

[@Utellglass]

Typical brain wash liberal promoting big government. We need less regulation to protect capitalism an hence protect democracy

[@firstnamelastname-bx9md]

a MAN made preventable disaster, the CEO's and responsible parties in the chemical company should have been charged with man-slaughter, negligence and environmental destruction, horrific

[@Blubb5000]

They had money. That's why nothing happened.

[@revimfadli4666]

No wonder extreme feminists hate man so much lol

[@revimfadli4666]

@@Blubb5000 I won't be surprised if their stakeholders had ties with the yakuza

[@SomeRandomPiggo]

@@revimfadli4666 lmao what, man made generally refers to humans, not just men unless you're making a joke

[@revimfadli4666]

@@SomeRandomPiggo lmao was joke indeed

[@MrLordMooMoo]

This is why we need a strong EPA.

[@jerrybaker9855]

no its not its why we need people to make sure they pay attention to businesses they work at

[@rafetizer]

When was the EPA going out of it's way to harass common citizens?

[@jerrybaker9855]

the same time it was sucking the dicks of compenines it should have been investigating

[@EmployeeJoe630]

Jerry Baker compenines?

[@EchoL0C0]

Ucdn 97 No kidding. It's headed by a guy who wants to destroy it.

[@nosuchthing8]

When you opened with the claim that living next to a chemical factory next to a bay was perfect, I immediately was suspicious. Because of dumping.

[@tubertz]

this is sad :(

[@tubertz]

not only did they die but they ruined the environment

[@thevegastan]

KZbinrtz the owner and whoever ordered and approved such acts should have their entire and future family generations eliminated indefinitely!

[@user-df4zw7yb4v]

Vegas Tan, they didn't know the consequences... It was a while ago!

[@TheWraithkrown]

So the sins of the father are the sins of the son/daughter? Really there should be repercussions for those involved, but not their families.

[@MrPruske]

how many people got to feed their families cleaning up the mess?

[@theLivind]

I searched for "Minamata dancing cats" and found a video where they show footage of the people affected by mercury poisoning. Absolutly chilling to think that a corporation can ruin your ability to control and or even steady your own body like that and get away with it. I hope the people who allowed this to happen, and then covered it up, got long and harsh prison sentences.

[@leodajosh3129]

They didn't face any prison sentences back then they did however provide compensation to the then reported 1700 affected patients around $68000 out of the 17000 reportaly affected people, and this was after YEARS of court battle! When, the courts finally declared the corporation as the offender and ordered for compensation, the patients and their supporters went to the offices of chisso for their money.There they got into got into discussions with the president and his lawyers for 2 (or maybe1) weeks, before an affected patient got furious slashed his wrist with an astray in front of the president. If you want to read more about the incident the book Minamata', Words and Photographs by W.E. Smith and A.M. Smith provide every detail from the perspective of the photographer William Eugene Smith.

[@LA6NPA]

I wish you guys would have mentioned, at least in passing, the work of W. Eugene Smith, how his percistance and documentary photography helped expose the issue.

[@holocene2164]

Didn't know that. Thanks!

[@capicuaaa]

Indeed! His most famous photograph is one of the most poignant testimonies of the whole poisoning!

[@revimfadli4666]

What a nosy Gaijin, meddling in other people's business /S

[@LA6NPA]

@@revimfadli4666 Press is supposed to be nosy. That's how you get to the truth. I guess you don't like news, huh. He was, in my opinion the greatest press photographer ever and that job in japan cost him his health from being beaten up by factory goons, and all you call him is a nosy gaijin. That's pretty disrespectful, coming from another gaijin.

[@revimfadli4666]

@@LA6NPA and "/S" is supposed to indicate sarcasm. That's how you tell the difference. I guess you don't like sarcastic humor, huh. And all you call it was "you don't like news", that's pretty disrespectful Or am I getting elaborately double wooshed? Jokes aside, it was of course an admirable pursuit of truth & informing the public, fighting against injustice by those with power. Shows that outside interference in "other people's business" can be necessary Beaten by company goons you said? Now it's even less of a surprise if the company's stakeholders had ties with, if not the yakuza themselves

[@razibbaraljoy9978]

After watching this, I went through several Minamata disaster videos. They are just horrific. Death is far better than this disease. God bless us.

[@Cobra6x6]

This is probably one of the reasons "mysterious deadly disease covered up by a conspiracy" is a common trope in thoughtful scary japanese media. As in one of my favorite anime, Higurashi no Naku koro ni.

[@nicholashylton6857]

_Trust corporations! They always have your best interests in mind._ _Lower pollution standards!_ _Jobs over public health!_ _Scientists don't now anything!!_ /sarcasm off...

[@ThaSandwitch]

Wait, so there were no repercussions for the company other than eventually, reluctantly, having to stop dumping?!?

[@revimfadli4666]

I won't be surprised if their stakeholders had ties with the yakuza

[@NOONE-iq3zt]

Me trying to sleep, but SciShow had to upload now! Oh well, I hate mondays anyways.

[@Potatobrains_]

that's the spirit!

[@MilnaAlen]

Methylmercury is so terrifying. I heard about a chemist who dropped just 2 drops on her skin and half her brain swell, and she died.

[@saara5589]

Karen Wetterhahn. She did so much for the field of toxicology but tragically ended up paying for it with her life.

[@reneelaicecreamxx4179]

And I heard the factory stopped duping waste was because the old method was time/ money wasting and use another newer method at that time, which was the saddest part

[@blackthejack]

1 year ago, a steal plant company named Formosa dumpped its waste water into the sea floor around the central coast line of vietnam. hundreds tons of fish and sea creature died.

[@koushuu]

Yes, I heard the news. Unluckily, I live right within the province with the polluted sea (Ha Tinh, by the way). Unable to eat seafood form nearly 6 months.

[@novaglacrr6114]

"When hat makers used mercury (something something - brain fart) in hats" Hence the term; Mad as a Hatter.

[@awolpeace1781]

The paper mill in Dryden, Ontario did the exact same thing.

[@MephLeo]

Unfortunately, this kind of practice still is carried out in many places.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

Honestly, it's exactly incidents like this that are why you should never assume anyone (including / especially government agencies) is doing their job. Always assume the entire world is out to get you, whether on a personal or professional level and basis, and then check it out until you've proven one way or another. :o)

[@Master_Therion]

No footage of the dancing cats? This is KZbin, if I search for "dancing cats" videos I'll be here for 6 months.

[@BamfIamone]

Ethan Badge ethan don't stop, you're a hero

[@Master_Therion]

Glitch Thanks, but I was just joking about how many cat videos are on KZbin. I wouldn't want to see an actual video of a cat suffering, that would be sad.

[@sionowe2533]

yeah just youtubed "dancing cats minimata". Sci-show does it no justice, the footage is harrowing.

[@ZennExile]

A similar thing happens to people who drink lead in their water. Small amounts over time and you end up like Trump, delirious and mentally disabled. Large amounts and you go insane and die. But those poor cats...

[@dantevortex]

Well, if you really REALLY enjoy watching animals spazz out into uncontrollable illness and oncoming death, there are far better websites for that than youtube.

[@ryco105]

Hank , you make me laugh because of your sense if humor , don't stop making these videos on any channel , you or your bro

4:54 "The _government_ started to clean the bay." Why couldn't the Chisso Corporation be bothered?

[@spindash64]

Manfred Höffken Because no one put them under legal pressure to do so

[@biscoito1r]

Here is a good question: how come some fruits are able to ripe after you remove them from the tree, vine, etc and other don't ?

[@tacothedank]

pheromones (or something), they release them from themselves and in the process tell other fruits to ripen as well, thats why when you put like a green banana and a ripe mango together for a while, the banana ripens rapidly when others don't? i guess they just dont react idfk

[@dickJohnsonpeter]

All I know is the fruit I get from the store is picked *way* too early so it goes bad before it even ripens. Especially bananas and kiwis, but mangos and other stuff too.

[@ugaladh]

Apples release ethylene which slows ripening in some veggies. put an apple in your potato bag.

[@gewgulkansuhckitt9086]

Amylase (an enzyme) converts the starch in the fruit to simple sugars, thus making the fruit taste sweeter. Starch is like the polymer equivalent of sugar. It's a long chain where the links of the chain are sugar molecules. Starch doesn't taste particularly sweet, but the sugars that it's made of are of course very sweet. Pectinase (an enzyme) breaks down pectin, making the fruit softer. Ethylene gas is often the trigger that starts the whole process. plantphys.info/plants_human/fruitgrowripe.shtml

[@raymondfrye5017]

@@tacothedank review your biochem.

[@breadb4176]

Similar thing happened to the English River in Northwestern Ontario when the Dryden Mill dumped effluent, containing mercury, into the river bed in the 60s and 70s. Despite knowing that the methylmercury has been causing damage to the community of Grassy Narrows since the 70s (researchers from Japan began studying the area in 70s) the Ontario government and Weyerhaeuser Co have brought their case to the Supreme Court of Canada to dispute who will pay for the clean up. It's been nearly 50 years and no one has accepted they have poisoned the waterway, plants, food and people upstream of the mill! It's absolutely disgusting. Why not shine a little light on the fact that these toxins are still a problem, despite Japan being involved for decades? Thanks!

[@phantasm1234]

Hello, SciShow! Do you think you could make a video explaining the current knowledge of cerebral aneurysms? I had one rupture at 19 and after learning so much about them, I would love for a bigger audience to learn of them!

[@user-ov4wr5yu4r]

At 19? 😢 I hope you're OK now.

[@troydhaliwal7910]

Do a video on why moths are so damn dusty

[@ismailabdelirada9531]

Dusty? No problem. Just douse them with furniture polish. ;-)

[@alisoncircus]

It's those flaking-off scales. All moths and butterflies have scales coating their wings; moths have ones that are specifically designed to come off easily, so that if they brush the edge of a spider's web the scales come off and they get away. SciShow has an episode on weird hunting techniques that features the bolas spider and how they get around that fact. Anyway, the scales shed /really/ easily. That's why moths are so damn dusty.

[@AmyraCarter]

All insects with *_venous_* wings are like that; moths' wings just have a different texture. Oh? Which insects? Flies, dragonflies, most bees (not wasps or hornets), butterflies, glowflies, moths (which are technically butterflies), and though they're not insects, bats have venous wings as well (rub them enough and you'll get some 'dust').

[@gabiroman5099]

Hank I want you to know that you did a greater job than any of my teachers ever did!!! Thank you Hank for all that you do for us!

[@methyllithium323]

I'm a simple man - I see dancing cats, and I immediately click... then cry for the poor lost souls. And those of people as well.

[@breadb4176]

A small community north of where I am from is one of three of four sites where Minamata has been effecting our water sources. Dr Harada, from Japan, was the world's leading researcher and community safety advocate. The Ontario government JUST committed to cleaning up the region, 50 years after Dr Harada began raising the alarm. It's so disappointing but on to a future with clean water

[@bripez]

This made me really sad because cats are my faves

[@rainydaylady6596]

Begs the question of where they dump now, assuming the company still exists.

[@Cryptonymicus]

It doesn't actually beg the question because virtually no one you've heard using this phrase understands what it actually means. Explanation here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question

[@Adam-ui3yn]

I remember watching a video of the affected locals in an environmental class in college. It looked like something out of a nightmare, some of the students in my class actually started crying.

[@AbsoluteZia121]

Doing a school presentation on the topic of Minamata and this really helped

[@Schmungus]

This video was released very coincidentally for me, I just started reading This Borrowed Earth which covered minamata disease in the first chapter!

[@wabbitnred3609]

JUST THE THOUGHT OF THAT MAKES ME CRY!

[@fartzinwind]

Where I work, I've seen delays in repairs at Super Fund sites delayed because of radioactive dirt that needed to be removed. Things a simple as a Telco Technician repair dispatch can be delayed by weeks / months. If you want to see something depressing, that we can't just make go away, look up U.S. Superfund sites... they are messed up.

[@DonDorgatho]

could you please do an Episode on Encephalitis lethargica? Its this wierd inflammation of the brain that might have been linked to the spanish flu. It caused the wierdest neurological symptoms like severe parkinsonism and its still quite a big mystery because there havent been many cases since the early 20th century

[@Catssonova]

God this sounds horrible.

[@csgas0]

It is.

[@jcass2035]

It's even worse when you the videos of victims

[@KenColangelo]

Well done. A great bit of quick, if horrible, information. Well explained and relevant.

[@ttrev007]

Just think of all the fun we will have when this happens in the US. Not that the corporations are in charge of the EPA and they are already starting to deregulate our water supplies this kind of crap is bound to happen hear.

[@robertsandfield5684]

Will? Oh buddy...

[@kittychan3645]

Yes! Love your new look!! Also love your informative, intelligent manor. Show your vids to my science class all the time!!

[@inquaanate2393]

It's not just a carbon attached to a mercury, it's three hydrogens on that carbon too to make methyl mercury.

[@corbeaudejugement]

finally! methyl groups are CH3 and methylmercury is CH3Hg, not CHg.

[@crucialblue]

Super informative, guys, thanks for the video! Never heard of this situation before, glad to see it brought out.

[@Drsouravc]

Are mosquitoes more attracted towards a specific blood group? Please reply.

[@stuffums]

Veritasium channel solved this

[@alexcarter8807]

I first read about this in "The Edge Of The Sea" by Rachel Carson, when I was 13 or so, and it creeped me out. All of Carson's writings are very much worth hunting down and reading.

[@yonkiriati]

can you make a video about earthquakes lights?

[@OakenTome]

Ethan Badge Google it maybe?

[@1MarkKeller]

light phenomenon see in the sky before earthquakes. Some suggest it is piezoelectric based.

[@SciShow]

We'll look into it! Thanks for the suggestion! -Alyssa

[@JamesPeach]

Yon Ki It's due to the electrical lines. I think.

[@lemerkin3633]

Rmmc 1203 what’s the point of having this KZbin channel if everyone just googled it

[@sicktoaster]

Minamata learned its lesson. They got rid of the toxins with sludge dredging between 1977 and 1990 and the bay was declared safe in 1997. In 2005 it won a prize for being Japan's top eco-city.

[@remliqa]

The story does sound like something out of Junji Ito's mind in parts.

[@philpaine3068]

The tragedy of Minamata was repeated in Canada in the 1960s and 1970s. The victims were primarily members of the Grassy Narrows and Whitedog First Nations in northern Ontario. The culprits were the Dryden Chemical Company and the Dryden Pulp and Paper Company. It is estimated that 9,000 kg of mercury had been dumped by the companies into a river that flowed through communities that lived primarily by traditional hunting and fishing. Doctors came from Japan to investigate.

[@nathanmcnee3343]

1:17 There go my weekend plans

[@sorzin2289]

One of Japans four great diseases. Itai-Itai disease to me was the worst. The residents of Toyama Prefecture suffered easily broken bones due to their bodies absorbing cadmium instead of calcium. Spinal and bone damage. Simply walking or coughing would lead to broken bones. All of these diseases were manmade caused by companies who didn't have to follow regulations, because there wasn't a regulatory agency like the EPA to enforce them.

[@xxXthekevXxx]

Japanese tips for Hank: - “i” in Japanese always makes an “ee” sound - “a” always makes an “ah” sound - “ch” never makes a “sh” sound. So “Chisso” is pronounced “chee-so”, and “Minamata” is “mee-nah-mah-tah” :)

[@eleven11three]

The current Empress of Japan is related to Chisso. Her grandfather, yutaka egashira insults the victim for being "poor" and blame the disease on "rotten" fish the victim's ate. The minamata case is abandoned to not hurt imperial family's honour. Chisso also hired yakuza to beat up Eugene Smith.

[@XZenon]

2:48 "Oil" and "Water"... I see what you did there.

[@tammystratford7079]

I used to eat it and rub it on my skin when I was little. I had a habit of stealing thermometers from people's houses and breaking them just so I could play with it. Sick all the time as a kid.

[@marilynlucero9363]

Poor kitties :(

[@wiwaxiasilver827]

Well... we know from Dr. Karen Wetterhahn’s case that dimethylmercury is even more potent and lethal, but yep, methylmercury is extremely dangerous and the culprit behind so many horrors that descended in Minamata as the namesake disease...

[@WildBillCox13]

A very interesting story. One that may soon be repeated in my little community as industries re-invest in it, hoping for better tax structure and lowered controls . . . which equal larger profits. This is why corporations need civilian, nonpartisan, oversight. The owners, knowing what they were doing to the population of the town, just kept doing it until the government made them stop. Pure evil in human form, but, to them, it was all about profits and overhead . . . lives lost were considered "acceptable" unless, or until, the effects were traced back to the owners. This is why organizations cannot be allowed to police themselves. They-all organizations-have different criteria for 'health" than we do as individuals, parents, and members of the community. The difference in philosophy costs us big time in long term health effects. And, even today, many owners wear blinders when it comes to spending hard earned (or cunningly cheated) profits on improving their environmental impact, even if it saves innocent lives. This is why I pursue my thankless task of raising awareness of pollution dangers, when all the industries just hope I shut up and leave them make money. I simply do not trust people who place profit before the lives of innocents. Neither should you.

[@lisamedlin96]

Very informative. This does and will apply to today and future events of problems here on this planet.

[@yassershkeir2340]

i spent half the vid looking at the spaceship on his shirt

[@Noone-of-your-Business]

1:00 - How would anyone need to dump the remains of a _catalyst_ into the river?? A catalyst, by definition, is a substance that enables or accelarates a chemical reaction *without being altered in the process.* So why on earth would anyone _dump_ perfectly good mercury that you can recycle endlessly?

[@pandapoogey]

This would have been helpful 2 months ago when I wrote a review on methylmercury 😆 great video!

[@Terryterryterryterryterry]

came for dancing cats, left with a really sad story

[@peterclarke166]

Can you do a video behind the science about losing your voice and why it occurs?

[@user-ov4wr5yu4r]

This could be several videos.

[@ghost_ship_supreme]

"Sir! Scientists suspect the toxic waste we're dumping in the lake is poisonous!" "Ehh, let's just wait 12 years"

[@jacquiz.6837]

Now *that's* a video title!!!

[@Nirsterkur]

Thanks for the explanation.

[@aviinthepast]

Note to self, Dancing Cat videos=DEATH

[@Emapluscjj]

Very interesting and informative!

[@darkendtranquility]

I guess you could say they were mad catters. plz kill me

[@freddiebozwell7049]

As a kid in the UK, I remember seeing a documentary on a great series called Horizon. Methyl, phenol and organic mercury , sticks in my head. It also touched on mercury dressed seed in Iraq.

[@ErosAnteros]

I think you should have highlighted that Chisso was dumping mercury sulfide because it was considered inert. They didn't predict the effects of the thiophytic bacteria...

[@Jade-g6p]

Nic Forster dumping mercury is never a good idea. There are even specific rules about how to dispose of household things that contain small amounts. They knew that it was a dangerous chemical and that they were adding it to an eco system. They didn’t know exactly what would happen but they did know that they probably shouldn’t do it.

[@stupidvids0]

Shouldn't dump anything that didn't already exist there... lol

[@lkhjsdfg]

I just learned that John and Hank are brothers. The world makes so much sense now.

[@goldenhydreigon4727]

Minamata Disease: *exists* Cats: *THEY'RE GROOVIN'*

[@MissesWitch]

First cats then humans. That's just really sad. They should have done something the moment they saw something wrong with the cats! Normal people don't have anything to do with dumping mercury yet they still had to suffer for it!

[@JoaoPessoa86]

My family has a Life magazine photo book from my great grandfather with pictures from the story they did on the birth defects

[@rigrentals5297]

as a current chemistry student, I loved all the chem talk in this video.

[@thuzan117]

don't worry, the free market will sort out stuff like this.

[@ScreamingForClemency]

lol. the sad thing is, TONS of people actually believe that. it's like history doesn't exist for some people.

[@TheGreatRakatan]

Oh boy, how many people liked this comment without understanding the sarcasm.

[@spindash64]

And that's why we have the Food and Drug Acts. Look, let's be real, most people DON'T want an entirely free market because of stuff like this. When people say free market, they mean more not having the government fix prices or fiddle too much with businesses. This sort of thing isn't even a free market thing, it's just arresting people for mass manslaughter with full awareness of the harm of their actions. Sorry, I probably went a bit overboard. Just tired of everything going on, with so many people acting like middle ground doesn't exist

[@94Newbie]

those people commited a crime even under the most free market you could think of. the problem is that "the commons" meaning occeans and other public land fall in the responsibility of the goverment that owns it. of course the owner in needs to ensure that no harm is done to its property by the people using it. if local coastal areas were owned privatly, (with the limitation of free passage), enviromental protection would be easy. the fishery wich would likely own that property wouldnt take kindly to industrial waste poisoning fish nor to overfishing to take another enviromental problem. so the problem is not with the ideal free market but rather its a problem of a mixed system, requiring a mixed solution. also even under a minarchist system dumping toxic waste etc. in the water would be illegal. the only legitimate role for goverment to play is to protect life and liberty of the people. the example of the video clearly falls under protect live.

[@Michael18599]

Interesting bit about where the Mad Hatter came from! Thanks!

[@ssurnamrog]

A truly great and horrific photojournalism portfolio by W. Eugene Smith of Life Magazine and Magnum photos documents this tragedy and helped lead the way to the Love Canal battle and to the environmental movement of today : pro.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&ALID=2TYRYDDWZXTR it's well worth the effort to find a copy of the original book and ( if you are lucky enough to see them) the original prints by W. Eugene Smith are stunning. An important part of the history of photography and of environmentalism.

[@karenmeador7807]

+

[@VoidHalo]

Interesting that you'd publish this video now. As of a few days ago I've taken a keen interest in transition metals and the properties of their various oxidations states.

[@yonkiriati]

0:49 acidic acid? is there also poisonous poison? and venomous venom?

[@zengamer321]

acetic acid...

[@stanleyknife888]

Fuckhead

[@xxXthekevXxx]

Acetic*

[@AikiraBeats]

Yon Ki nice

[@user-dq7fl3xk3t]

Yon Ki lel

[@AlvinLee007]

Hank doesn't disappoint.

[@DrPhil-tn2pn]

oi

[@fault5596]

Dr. Phil *PHIL*

[@shjsshhshs9936]

oi oi oi

[@athanassiospagalis913]

Wagwan weather's shite init

[@marthasofiamedina-acuna3305]

Thank you for sharing those interesting videos

[@terryweaver9140]

Saying that s chemical disguises it's self is a little wrong as a chemical has no agency. It would be more correct to say the body mistakes it.

[@MephLeo]

Well, if you are going to be strictly correct, that won't do either. It would have to be said that the methylmercury has some characteristic as such that some biochemical process accepts it in the place of the other molecule. But it is a mere figure of speech, I can't see where's the harm in saying that the chemical disguises itself.

[@terryweaver9140]

Leopoldo Aranha I'd argue that your phrasing is just a long winded (not a value judgement) way of saying the same as my suggestion. The issue is that the one taking action is the system of the body not the chemical. Would it be correct to say fools gold disguises it's self to trick people?

[@MephLeo]

To my mind, saying it's a body's mistake also implies some degree of consciousness to the various chemical compounds themselves. They're not mistaken when they take one molecule in the place of the other, it's just that there shouldn't be any methylmercury laying around, but since there is, the biochemical processes will take it in as well because of how they work. What I'm saying is that using a figure of speech to simplify an explanation for people to understand that the ingestion of something is bad for their organism isn't a mistake in itself. No one will take it literally and think methylmercury is a KZbin prankster ready to make tasteless practical jokes on unsuspecting molecules of a living organism. It says the essential, i.e., that dumping methylmercury into the environment puts people in danger, without going into technical details that would make the video longer, baring in mind that it has to appeal to a wide range of audiences. In my opinion, in this context it is not a mistake, just a way of using association via a figure of speech to help understanding.

[@sparky663]

who cares

[@Mjaf23]

Junai D jamsheed naths

[@jimmyshrimbe9361]

Awesome shirt Hank!

[@paulsondumbbells150]

Come on Nadal!

[@OneDraq]

Ethan Badge pro tennis guy

[@Joker21SRB777]

And I thought this monday couldn't get any more depressing... :/