Itai-itai Disease - Legal Action

Legal Action

Twenty-nine plaintiffs, consisting of nine victims and 20 family members of victims, sued the Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. in 1968 in the Toyama Prefectural court. In June 1971, the court found the Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. guilty. Subsequently, the company appealed to the Nagoya District Court in Kanazawa, but the appeal was rejected in August 1972. The Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. agreed to pay for the medical care of the victims; finance the monitoring of the water quality performed by the residents; and pay reparations to the victims of the disease.

People who consider themselves victims of itai-itai disease have to contact the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to have their claims assessed. Many victims were not satisfied with government actions and demanded a change in the official procedures. This caused the government to review the criteria for recognizing a victim legally; the government also reassessed the treatment of the disease.

A person is considered to have itai-itai disease if he or she lived in the contaminated areas, has kidney dysfunctions, softening of the bones, but not related heart problems. One hundred eighty-four victims have been legally recognized since 1967, of whom 54 were recognized in the period from 1980 to 2000. An additional 388 people have been identified as potential victims, those that had not been officially examined yet. Fifteen victims were still alive as of 1993.