Index of Congenital Minamata Disease in Canadian Areas of Concern in the Great Lakes: An Eco-Social Epidemiological Approach

Abstract

Cerebral palsy is one of the symptoms of congenital Minamata disease associated with exposure to methyl mercury. Cerebral palsy hospitalization rates for 17 Canadian Areas of Concern have been used as a health index in evaluating the effectiveness of the United States and Canadian governments in implementing their Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Elevated rates in males in several locations was associated with historic uses of mercury and with natural sources indicating that the governments have failed to protect human health from exposures to this persistent toxic substance. Advances in epidemiological theory indicate that the reasons for this failure cannot be explained solely in scientific and technical frames but that the social, economic, and political contexts of the two nations need to be examined.

Key Words:

• Minamata disease
• Great Lakes
• eco-social approach

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Professor Andrew Watterson, Occupational and Environmental Health Research Group, University of Stirling, Scotland and former colleagues at the International Joint Commission provided guidance in undertaking this research. The Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Stirling provided financial support. The table and figures were first published in Environmental Research and are used with permission. The paper was developed from my Ph.D. thesis (2) and a platform presentation at the 2007 SETAC Symposium on “Common Effects Endpoints for Persistent Toxic Substances in Human and Ecological Epidemiology.”

This paper was developed from a presentation given at the symposium on “Common Effects Endpoints for Persistent Toxic Substances in Human and Ecological Epidemiology” at the 2007 Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) annual meeting.

Notes

^a After (32).

^b Does not include mercury released in solids.