Environmental Sociology on Victimizers-Victims Relationships about Problem of Itai-itai Disease and Cadmium poisoning

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Environmental cadmium pollution causes cadmium poisoning. The first cadmium-polluted area ever discovered in the world was the Jinzu River basin in Toyama Prefecture in Japan. In this area, the river was contaminated by slag from a mine and the soil of the rice paddies was polluted with heavy metals through irrigation water.Consequently, prolonged exposure to cadmium due to contaminated water and rice resulted in an excessive accumulation of cadmium in the body tissues, especially in the kidney, in the inhabitants of the basin.The most severe case of cadmium poisoning is Itai-itai disease(osteomalacia), which was officially recognized as a pollution-related disease by the Japanese government in 1968, and a less severe case is Cadmium nephropathy (tubular kidney dysfunction). In other words, the occurrence of Itai-itai disease is only the "tip of the iceberg". The tubular kidney dysfunction is the earliest and most prevalent adverse result of chronic cadmium poisoning. The Japan Public Health Association Cadmium Research Committee, supported by the Environmental Agency, carried out health surveys in cadmium-polluted areas of 8 prefectures during the period of 1976-1984 and reported that many cases of tubular kidney dysfunction were found not only in Toyama but also in Ishikawa, Hyogo and Nagasaki prefectures. However, the Environmental Agency and the research committee have never certified this kidney dysfunction as a pollution-related disease. We considered why this situation has arisen in the case of cadmium poisoning.Another main theme of this study is to describe the history of damages and struggle around cadmium pollution in Ichi River Basin in Hyogo Prefecture and Kakehasi River Basin in Ishikawa Prefecture, based on interviews with patients, families of patients and other agents from the viewpoint of environmental sociology.