Japanese environmental pollution: a case study of the Kanemi rice oil disease victims

Thesis/Dissertation · Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:5011705

Hausknecht, P A

All major pollution incidents in contemporary Japan have spawned victims' protest movements. This dissertation is a case study of one such movement which emerged in the late 1960s among thousands of persons poisoned by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that had accidentally leaked into their cooking oil. The study describes the evolution of victims' response to the disaster, beginning with the initial outbreak of symptoms, their efforts to uncover the cause of these symptoms and to receive appropriate medical treatment, and their organization of a movement to seek redress in the form of an apology from the manufacturer of the oil, reform by industry and government, and compensation. Victims utilized a variety of tactics before finally resorting to litigation in attempts to achieve their goals. Theirs was the largest pollution case ever tried in Japan. The study concludes that victims became their own advocates only after the government and industry failed to accept responsibility for pollution; that the victims went to court only reluctantly after all other avenues for redress were closed to them; and that, although they won their case, they felt it was a Pyrrhic victory, because they failed to attain all their goals, such as reform of industrial policy.

• OSTI ID: 5011705
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
INJECTION
TOXICITY
HUMAN POPULATIONS
HEALTH HAZARDS
JAPAN
ACCIDENTS
CHRONIC INTAKE
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
POLLUTION
AROMATICS
ASIA
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
HAZARDS
INTAKE
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
POPULATIONS
550900* - Pathology
290300 - Energy Planning & Policy- Environment
Health
& Safety