At the library today I was flipping through Life Magazine's 70 Years of Extraordinary Photography and came across this photo. Here is the caption:
Industrial Waste
Some Japanese who resided in a fishing village called Minamata during the 1950's and '60s suddenly began to suffer from tremors and impaired sight and hearing. Soon many of them were dying from a mysterious ailment that translates as 'ouch-ouch' disease. It turned out that a chemical company called Chisso was dumping mercury into the coastal waters. Here, in 1971, Tomoko Uemura, who was poisoned in the womb and born blind,mute and mangled, is bathed with timeless tenderness by her mother."
W. Eugene Smith
Tell me again. Why is it okay to inject this neurotoxin into pregnant women and babies?
11 comments:
Oh MI Goodness!
I saw this picture ages ago and forgot all about it, especially about the Mercury poisoning part. Still as disturbing as ever. Sad!!!!
There is a point at which denial comes together with corporate greed, and that is where such atrocities occur.
As thinking beings, we can and should do better.
Thank you for visiting my blog. I'll be back here often.
Eugene Smith did a story and spent a lot of time in this fishing village- Minimata Japan, to expose the mercury poisoning in the water due to a chemical plant. I saw this retrospective many years ago at New York International Center of Photography and it was amazing to see these photos up close.
Gene Smith was also beaten during the photographing of this story by thugs who worked for the chemical plant. These injuries later hampered his photo journalism career.
Wow - so disturbing. Even more so with the info from Suzy.
Frightening. I was talking with my sister about autism the other day (thanks to Oprah and The View), we wondered, do they STILL put mercury in vaccines even today?
Yes Kim. They do still give shots with mercury in them.
It is still in the flu shots and it is in some of the Hep B shots.
They took it out of "some" pediatric flu shots, but not all. Also...many doctors order the adult vials and half the dose. The adult vials still have thimerisol (mercury).
Mercury in vaccines was banned in California, and the autism rates dropped dramatically. Then they ran out of thimerisol free flu shots, so they started giving the mercury ones again, without informing the parents.
Why not take it out of everything completely? Because that would end this epidemic abruptly. And then there would be hell to pay.
It would prove the CAUSE and Big Pharma and the government are more interested in covering their butts than in ensuring this doesn't happen to more children.
BTW this isn't just about autism. It's about ADHD, OCD, anxiety disorders, learning delays (1 in 6 kids these days), and possibly alzheimers too.
Mercury damages living things, particular those with genetic predispositions toward not being able to clear it from their bodies efficently.
I think I am going to be sick!
What can be said? The atrocity is unspeakable.
I remember that photo from many years ago. The painful beauty and sadness. How awful that it is because of mercury.
In one hour my daughter has her one-year check-up, and she will be receiving zero shots. I'll try to find out this morning just how much mercury I have had injected into her so far.
Thank god you are writing about this and educating others.
I tried posting my comment and lost it. Arrghh. Don't know if you got that one.
A picture does say the proverbial thousand words, doesn't it?
Isn't mercury found in the dental fillings?
I remember reading about how unsafe it was for pregnant women to eat fish like salmon or tuna.
It seems contradictory of the Pharma companies. Kind of like tobacoo companies, but I won't go there. I don't want to offend anyone who smokes.
Thanks for the answer Michelle!
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