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Portland Observer
Thursday. August 12th, 1978
Pag« 8
Ojibway Indians victims of pollution
(P N 8 ) - Ons hundred and fifty miles
north of the United States border in
Ontario Province, the people of tw o O jib
way Indian reservation* are (ailing victim
to a crippling disease with a strange
The disease is railed Minamata, after
the Japanese fishing community where It
first occurred.
Minamata Is caused by organic mer
cury deposited in local w ater* by petro
chemical plant* flushing out th eir waste
product*. On the Grassy N a rro w * and
W hite Dog reservations of the Ojibway.
as in Minamata, the mercury has contam
inated the fish that is a staple of the local
The disease progressively dissolve*
the nervous system, leaving its victims
deformed and crippled for life. The first
symptoms are * tingling numbness in the
lips and limbs. Then movement* become
hard to control, w ord* slur together in
speech and the victim's visual range nar
row*. Hearing and sight deteriorate. In
the advanced stages, victim * fall into
uncontrollable motion* and sometime*
begin shouting involuntarily. Death may
soon follow.
Autopsies have shown the brain trans
formed into a kind of sponge a* it* cells
are eaten away. And mercury poisoned
infanta have been born to apparently
healthy mother*.
Despite a major court decision recog
nixing many victims' claim* for compen
sation 10 year* after the firat eases were
identified, the disease still afflict* Min
amata: Medical authorities estimate that
over 10,000 of it* residents may now be
suffering from ft. Seven hundred people
there have been verified as seriously dis
eased; 109 have died.
For the Ojibway Indians of Canada -
and perhaps for other p a rt* of the world
polluted by mercury - the problem is just
beginning.
M E R C U R Y W A S TE S
Like M inamata, the Grassy N arrow *
and W hite Dog reservations are located
on water. In Minamata, a large petro
chemical company called Chisso Corp,
polluted the local bay with mercury,
which it used in the manufacture of ace-
full-fledged disease.
Settling in the mud of riverbeds, mer
cury waste to absorbed by fish, and aome
Wabigoon-English fish have shown m er
cury levels correlating exactly to those of
fish in Minamata. Ojibw ay who eat this
fish have had their hair examined lor
mercury, revealing level* the same a*
those found in recognized Japanese vie
Slav« requests back pay
to my advantage to move back
else can." and expressed surprise that the
“. . .We have concluded to test your
Colonel had not been hung for harboring
rebs, or for killing a Union soldier. “A l- I sincerity by asking you to send u* our
wage* for the time we served you. the
though you ahot at me twice before I left
double edged letter continue*. “I served
you I did not w ant to hear of your being
you faithfully for 82 ye a r* and Mandy 20
hurt . . .," he said.
year*. A t 28 dollar* a month for me, and 2
" I am doing tolerably well here. I get 26
dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings
dollars a month, w ith victual* and cloth
would amount to 11.680 dollars. Add to
ing, have a comfortable home for Mandy
(the folks here call her M r*. Anderson),
the children . . . go to school. W e are
kindly treated. Now, if you w ill w rite and
aay w hat wage* you w ill give me, I w ill be
better able to decide w hether it would be
and perfumes.
Grassy Narrows and W h ite Dog are
situated in a lake region where land and
w ater area* form a complicated network
of byways called the Wabigoon-English
system.
The D ryden Paper Co.. L td ., a subsidi
ary of the British Reed Paper In t., own* a
pulp mill that discharge* mercury-laden
waste* into the WabigoonEnglish. The
mill site upstream from the reservations.
Although only light M inamata symp
toms have been found so far among the
Ojibway, indications are numerous that
the Indians are about to develop the
diet.
A masterpiece of acrimonious w riting,
a le tte r from a freed slave to h i* form er
master, to recounted in the August issue .
of "American Heritage." The magazine
states that the le tte r from George A n
derson to Colonel P. H. Anderson was
apparently dictated to the V . W inter
mentioned therein, who sent ft to the
British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society
in London.
In his letter of August 1886, the form er
stove w rote that he was glad to find the
Colonel r/anted him to come back “pro
mising to do better for me than anybody
taldehyde, a component of plastics, drugs
tims of the disease.
And cat* gone mad w ith Minamata
disease have appeared in the are* - as
they did in the Japanese community be
fore human symptoms were identified.
OFFICIAL INACTION
Unlike M inamata, where in 1973 the
Japanese courts awarded 138 victims $3.6
million in damage* from the Chisso Corp,
after a prolonged legal battle, the Ojib-
this the interest for the tim e our wages
ha* been kept back, and deduct w hat you
paid for our clothing . . . Please send the
money by Adams' Express, In care of V .
people want.
Short range and long range a id long
range propoeals will be discussed.
Short------
‘
f h * Communion suggests a Tri-County
Council that would w rv e a* the major
policy-making body tor the m atters that
are now the responsibility of the Colum
bia Region Association of Governm ent*
(C R A G ) and the M etropolitan Service
D istrict (M 8 D ). I U members would be
directly elected by and acountable to the
voter* of the Tri-County area. Members
of C RAG and M S D are appointed.
T he short range alternative would be a
major step toward achieving a more feasi
b l* and accountable governing machan
ism for providing those services required
on a T ri County basis and for providing
the coordination needed to make the var
ious p art* of the governmental ayatem
w ork more harmoniously. There would be
three general program * under the d ir
ection of the Tri-County Council: plan
ning, physical and human service*, and
support service*.
T he planning function would absorb
the service* now provided by CRAG .
Physical and human services would in
clude those functions currently authoriz
ed for M S D and any new functions or
aspect* of function* that the Commission
may recommend to be authorized such a*
w ater supply and m ajor cultural or rec
reational facilities. Support service* wuld
provide those services desired by lower
tier governments (counties, cities, special
districts) on a contractual basis.
T he relationship of the Port of Portland
and T ri-M e t to the Tri-County Council
ha* not yet been clearly determined. Op
tions include leaving them as they are
now or incorporating them wihin the T ri-
County Council much the same as M SD
and C RAG .
Another alternative m ight be similar to
that of the Sew er Board and Transit
Board to the T w in Cities M etropolitan
Council. T h a t is, the Tri-County Council
m ight appoint the mem ber* of th eir gov
erning board* and would have general
policy and certain limited budgetary con
tro l over them. They would basically per
form th eir functions a* they do now.
Currently Port and T ri M et member* ae
appointed by the Governor.
Cities, Counties and service district*
would not be affected by this proposal,
although larger cities and counties would
be encouraged to develop smaller a re *
council* to advise them.
The long range alternative proposes a
simplified tw o-tier government for the
metropolitan are*.
M atte rs of significance to the m etro
politan area would be assigned ‘ o the
upper tier, while those service* and re-
risk even greater than their economic
hardship: M inamata disease.
M IN A M A T A 'S L E G A C Y
In M inamata, the Chisso Corp, accept
ed the court's decision to award damages
to victims and agreed to compensate oth
er victims who had not gone to court.
But three years a fte r the court ruling,
it is increasingly difficult for victims
there to get help. A claimant must first
spokesman charges, "aimed at checking
the number of recognized victims and
fostering a nationwide attitude th a t the
disease to over.”
The Chisso plant is still operating -
with the help of a government loan - and
the sea is still being polluted w ith m er
cury. A large net fastened to the bottom
of the sea marks a safe fishing area, but a
channel has been left open into the inner
bay for boats. Fish pass through to the
poisoned w ater* of the inner bay, take in
mercury, swim back out and are caught
for human consumption. "Sediment in the
area still contain* mercury compounds,"
say* the Seirinsha spokesman, "and offi
cial opinion to the contrary, the danger of
contracting
M inamata
dilease
still
exists."
In the past year, Minamata rod Ojib
way delegation* have exchanged visit* in
an effort to increase their understanding
of the disease. Says Jun U i, one of
Japan's leading experts on pollution and
spokesman for the Japanese delegation,
"the problems of pollution in Japan por
tend the destiny of the whole world.”
U i believes the Ojibw ay can prevent
their reservations from becoming anoth
er M inamata only by a determined effort
to force the Canadian government to halt
the Dryden mill's pollution.
I f they cannot, the Ojibw ay people can
only w ait to see if cats gone mad are
augurs of a perilous future.
Plan ahead savings
for back-to-school.
207. off
W inters, Esq.. Dayton, Ohio."
Stvdy commission ponders government changes
The Tri-County Local Government
Commission, a blue ribbon committee
which to studying the effectiveness of
local government, approved a motion at
its July 16th meeting to adopt conceptual
short and long range reorganization al
ternative*. The commission took the first
step toward developing a reorganisation
proposal to obtain public input.
The Commission to in the process of
setting up meetings in the community to
find out w hat type of government the
way have received no official help.
The Canadian government announced
in 1970 that the Ojibway did not have
Manamata disease. Y e t the government
simultaneously banned the catching and
eating of fish in the region of the reserva
tion* because of mercury poisoning.
Before the ban, the region had been
popular among tourist* and sportsmen.
Many of the Ojibway had been employed
as guide* and elsewhere in the tourist
industry. But a fte r the ban tourism drop
ped off - and w ith it the Ojibw ay lost a
major source of income. Many have had
to turn to welfare.
Those Ojibway who have ignored the
ban on catching and eating local fish run a
be officially recognized as a victim by a
deliberation board that - according to a
spokesman for Seirinsha, a M inamata
support group - includes doctors who
previously had refused to recognize an
outbreak of the disease elsewhere. “In
corporating these doctor* onto the com
mittee was a political decision," the
sponaibilitiea considered to be local would
be assigned to the lower tie r cities of
community districts.
A t both levels, policy control* would
rest w ith governing bodies composed of
directly elected official*. General purpose
government would have the preference
over single purpose government.
Our boys
western
jeans
Key ( b i Ml sns
1. In order to achieve a more simple
government, should our regional func
tion* be integrated and coordinated by
combining two or more of the regional
governments into a Tri-County Council?
2. Should mem ber* of a Tri-County Coun
cil be elected? I f elected, should member*
be elected at-large or from single member
Sale
3.99
districts?
3. How many m em ber* should there be
and w hat should their term s of office and
compensation be?
4. Should the presiding officer of the
Council be elected to th a t position by the
voters or the members of the Council?
5. W hat functions and responsibilities
should a Council exercise?
6. Should a Tri-County Council have
planning, budgetary and appointive con
trol over those regional governments and
functions not integrated directly within
Reg. 4.99. Beys’ polyester/cotton
western jean*. F la re d bottom;' pockets;
contrast stitching. G reat colors for regu-
lar/slim sizes 8-12.
Beys sizes 3 te 7 regular/slim ; reg. 3.99
£3.19
Beys size* 14 ta 20 regular/Slim ; reg. 6.49
Sale -.'4 99
see 8 te 29 husky; reg. 6.49 Sale
it?
7. How should a Tri-County Council and
regional functions for which it is respons
ible be financed?
Sale prices effective through Saturday.
Organisation* that would like to dis
cuss these issues w ith the Commission,
should contact Bill Cross, Public Inform
ation Coordinator, 1912 S. W . Sixth A v
enue. 229-3676.
Boys’ underwear
always a
great buy.
Now H’s
even better.
20% off
Sale
3
for
Reg. 3 ter 2.98. Beys’ F e rtre lO peiyee-
ter/com bed cotton T -shirt*. Great for
back-to-school. Boys sizes 3 to 7.
Beys sizes 8 te 20; reg. 3 for 3.39 Sale 3
lo r $2.71.
Sale 3 i., 2.33
Rag. 3 lor 3.39 Bays' briefs in F o rte lO
polyesterZcombed cotton. Boys’ sizes 8 to
20.
Bays' size* 3 ta 7 reg. 3 for 2.98 Sale 3 lor
Joe Joseph
Sale prices effective through Saturday.
New York Lifo Int. Co
Correction
281-3680 3933 N. F Union
$2.38
The artical on X-pansion* credited to
Pat Lesley in the July 29th issue of the
Observer was w ritten by Gregory
Gudger.
JCPenney