"In 1953, fishermen and their families from the Minamata Bay area, in Southwestern Japan developed a new unknown ailment. After 3 years the number of cases of this illness had surged and it was called Minamata disease. Toxic concentrations of mercury were identified within the viscera of the deceased patients. It was proved that the affected individuals had consumed large quantities of seafood contaminated from the mercury-laden runoff from an industrial plant 1."