From its Minamata plant -a huge gray complex of pipes, towers, and tanks- the company had for years routinely dumped its lethal by-products into the heavily fished waters of Minamata Bay.
Birds seemed to be losing their sense of coordination, often falling from their perches or flying into buildings and trees. Cats, too, were acting oddly. They walked with a strange rolling gait, frequently stumbling over their own legs. Many suddenly went mad, running in circles and foaming at the mouth until they fell.
Soon the malady spread to the fishermen and their families. The symptoms of the disease were horrible to watch. Although it was still undiagnosed, physicians knew the disease attacked the central nervous system and the brain, crippling its victimsand eventually rendering them bedridden and incoherent. Forty percent of those poisoned died. Autopsies showed that their brains had become spongelike as cells were eaten away.
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