A screening event for a video on Minamata disease patients is held in the city of Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Nov. 1, 2021. (Mainichi/Takaharu Nishi)

       MINAMATA, Kumamoto -- A 13-minute video on the daily lives of Minamata disease patients, produced by a citizens' group in this southwestern Japan city which was the hypocenter of pollution-triggered mercury poisoning, is up on the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)'s website, and patients say they want it to be seen by many people to promote mercury regulation.

       The video was made by a network of people promoting the Minamata Convention on Mercury, or Mico Net. The group aims for the establishment of international regulations on mercury -- the cause of Minamata disease -- and members spent a month to make the video in line with the fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP-4) held from Nov. 1 to 5.

       The video shows patients in their 50s and 60s including Shinobu Sakamoto, the 65-year-old representative of Mico Net, eating in bed with the help of their families and the lives they spend not being able to walk due to worsening symptoms. English subtitles and narration were added as "messages from Minamata Bay."

       The Minamata Convention on Mercury was adopted at the UNEP's diplomatic conference held in Kumamoto Prefecture in 2013 with the aim to prevent environmental pollution and health damage caused by mercury on a global scale, and came into effect in 2017.

       COP-4 was held online due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the UNEP allowed for the video to be posted on its website in tune with the gathering. A meeting of member countries is planned to be held in Indonesia in 2022.

       A screening event was held in the city of Minamata on Nov. 1, and Koichiro Matsunaga, a 58-year-old patient with fetal-type Minamata disease who delivered a speech at the third meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury in Switzerland, said, "I want mercury to be properly regulated to create a safe society for the children of the future."

       The video can be viewed at: https://www.mercuryconvention.org/en/resources/message-minamata-bay

       (Japanese original by Takaharu Nishi, Minamata Local Bureau)

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