THOUSANDS of people living in the Nigata, Kumamoto and Kagoshima pre- fectures in Japan had contracted the Minamata disease (first detected in the early 1950'5) -a form of organic mer- cury poisoning -when 2 frontrunning chemical companies, Chisso Corp and Showa Denko KK discharged their cont- aminated waste in the region recently. While the guilty were identified almost immediately, the majority of the victims are yet to receive their compen- sations, and many are fighting a long drawn legal battle against the compa- nies, which stubbornly refi1Se to pay up anyone who does not possess a certifi- cate prepared specifically by 'public' hospital authorities.

But now the government-run Environment Agency has come to their rescue with a plan which calls for med- ical panels in the 3 prefectures to judge whether people can be recognised as vic- tims on the basis of medical certificates prepared by private hospitals. This would allow almost 8,000 of the aftlict- ed, who were hitherto deprived of their share, to avail of the compensation. The plan also stipulates that the victims must withdraw their lawsuits before receiving the money.