The were a group of man-made diseases all caused by environmental<unk>  due to improper handling of industrial wastes by Japanese corporations. The first occurred in 1912, and the other three occurred in the 1950s and 1960s. Despite the moniker of 'four' becoming the prominent way to refer to the events, Minamata disease and Niigata Minamata disease were the same<unk>  disease spread by the same poison, just in different locations. Name of disease Japanese prefecture affected Cause Source Year Itai-itai disease Toyama Prefecture Cadmium poisoning Mitsui Mining & Smelting Company 1912 Minamata disease Kumamoto Prefecture Methylmercury Chisso Corporation 1956 Niigata Minamata disease Niigata Prefecture Methylmercury Showa Denko 1965 Yokkaichi asthma Mie Prefecture Sulfur dioxide Air<unk>  within Yokkaichi 1961 Due to lawsuits, publicity, and other actions against the corporations responsible for the<unk> , as well as the creation of the Environmental Agency in 1971, increased public awareness, and changes in industrial practices, the incidence of these kinds of diseases declined after the 1970s. These cases also set precedents for private tort law and civil law in issues of compensation for technology-related mass damage which continue to have repercussions in legal cases in Japan today.
Four Big Pollution Diseases of Japan
Climate change and infectious diseases
Arsenic poisoning cases
Three Mile Island accident health effects
Drug pollution
Japan Air Lines food poisoning incident
Black Death migration
Chinese alchemical elixir poisoning