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台灣台北國際社區廣播電台台灣環保 #36 2000年8月14日星期一早晨
艾玲達，台灣綠黨國際事務部官員
我過去一個月拜訪了日本及中國。從日本東京七月20日展開的水俁病相片展覽會才知道一件足以讓我再次激動的事實，在1970、80年代台灣塑膠業及經濟部埋下了嚴重神經性疾病的種子，在日本經過長期確認致命的因素是汞中毒。這裡是艾琳達為台灣環保報導。
七月八日六位來自台灣的環保人士前往日本參加為期數天的反核亞洲論壇。之後，我問何處可找到在1960年代爆發，因汞中毒而聲名大噪的水俁病相關資料。我們知道自去年台灣的塑膠業工廠就埋藏了13萬噸含汞廢棄物，現在有可能滲入地下水。而我得知第二個汞中毒地區，就在我們的核能廠不遠處至日本北海岸。
我說服台灣環保聯盟的潘漢疆先生隨我一起前往，在新潟附近見到波多野先生，新潟是日本第二大河阿賀野川河口主要的港口。波多野先生是一位以木匠為職業、相當健談的中年人，他貢獻他花費三年的光陰製作一部影片，以親切的口吻描述嚴重的水俁病活生生的例子及事實。
他帶領我們沿著渠道上頭的路往上游走。河流似乎跟淡水河一樣寬。稻田向水平面延伸，整齊無以數計綠油油的一片，先端尚未結稻穀。潘先生大聲地說這般景象好像回到他台南的家鄉。少許優雅的鄉村房舍畫破了這片綠油油廣闊的區域。波多野先生伸手比了比，說這就是他影片中的一位長者生前所住的地方。但在哪呢﹖我想著，是毒害的源頭嗎﹖那裡的工廠有一英哩遠嗎﹖不，這家塑膠工廠有30公里之遠，從河口算起，事實上是65公里遠。魚類從河流而來的食物累積了汞，就像建水壩一樣，會捉住上游的沉澱物。有些受傷，而有些死亡。
波多野先生的叔叔，關先生就是其中一位得過此病而倖存下來，將近有30年之久。無法將汞從身上去除，輕微的徵兆就足以產生嚴重的病症。但他從沒有因為這些典型的症狀如：部分失明、劇烈的痙攀、失去平衡及耳聾…等，嚴重到可以領賠償金的地步。現在84的高齡，身材雖小但顯得相當愉快，寬闊的胸部及光滑的面孔，偏好計數的他宣稱有90個女人曾向他求婚能與他共枕一生，並唱著傳統歌謠。
他曾是一名工人，在4人的團體中他是負責鋪屋頂的瓦片。他們每天在一起吃飯，特別是烤魚。1965年他們都得病了，不出幾個月他2位工作夥伴相繼死去。而這家工廠好像在1964年就關閉了，在當時也將特別是具揮發性的催化劑-5噸的甲基汞，傾倒在河流中。因此確認出有2000人患病，273人死亡。關先生倖免於此並得享天年，但是他的手因為抖得很厲害，所以寫字對他而言不是件易事，而他的身體有這項疾病奇怪的特徵，若是輕壓他的皮膚則會留下清楚的印痕，好一段時間後才會回復。
台灣為1970年代傾倒水銀事件還有什麼藉口呢?
這裡是艾琳達為台灣環保報導
版權歸屬 環境信託基金會 (曾秋莉譯，張正慈審校)
中英對照原文：http://news.ngo.org.tw/reviewer/linda/re-linda000829.htm |
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ICRT (International Community Radio, Taiwan) Taiwan Huan Bao #36 for August 14, 2000 Monday
AM
Linda Gail Arrigo, Green Party Taiwan, International Affairs Officer
I've been away for a month in Japan and China. What I learned at the Minamata disease photo exhibition that began July 20 in Tokyo was enough to make me mad all over again at Formosa Plastics and the Ministry of Economics, who in the 1970's and 80's planted the seeds for serious nerve disease in Taiwan, long enough after the deadly results of mercury poisoning had been recognized in Japan. This is Linda Gail Arrigo again, for Taiwan Huan
Bao.
Six environmentalists from Taiwan went to Japan on July 8 to participate in the No Nukes Asia Forum Program. I had a few days after that, and I asked where I could go to find out about Minamata disease, the infamous case of mercury poisoning that broke out in the 1960's. We know since last year that 130,000 tons of mercury-laced waste from the plastics industry is buried somewhere in Taiwan, and is likely seeping into the ground water now. I was told that there was a second mercury poisoning location not far from where our nuclear plant tour ended on the north coast of Japan.
I persuaded Mr. Pan Han-Jiang of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union to go with me, and we met up with a Mr. Hatano near Niigata, a major port at the mouth of the Agano River, the second largest river in Japan. Mr. Hatano, a talkative middle-aged man who is by profession a master carpenter, devoted three years of his life to making a film that gently described the lives and fate of those stricken with
Minamata.
He drove us up the river on the road along the top of the dikes. The river seemed as broad as the Tamsui, and deeper. The rice fields stretched out to the horizon, neat squares of brilliant green not yet tipped with grain. Mr. Pan cried out that the scene was like returning to his hometown in Tainan. A few neat village homes broke the green expanse.
Mr. Hatano circled one, and said this is where one of the older men in his film, now deceased, had lived. But where, I wondered, was the source of the poison? Was there industry a mile away? No. The plastics factory was over thirty kilometers away, in fact 65 km. from the mouth of the river. The diet of fish from the river concentrated the mercury, as did the construction of dams, which trapped the sediments from upstream. Some were stricken, some died.
Mr. Hatano's uncle, Mr. Seki, is among those who have lived with the disease for over thirty years. There is no way to rid the body of the mercury, and slight traces are enough to create serious symptoms. But he was never impaired enough with the classic symptoms of partial blindness, violent spasms, loss of balance, deafness, etc., to be allotted compensation. Now at age 84, small in stature but cheerful, broad-chested, and smooth-faced, he prefers to count up the 90 women he claims to have wooed and bedded in his life time, and sing traditional songs.
He was a young laborer, laying roof tiles in his team of four. They ate together daily, especially roasted fish. In 1965 they all became sick, and within a few months two of his teammates died. It seems that the factory closed in 1964, and at that time dumped five tons of methyl mercury, a particularly volatile catalyst, into the river. Over 2,000 claimed illness, and 273 died. Mr. Seki lived and continues to celebrate life. But his hands shake so much that it is difficult for him to write, and his flesh has a curious characteristic of the disease, that if you press down on his skin it leaves an indentation and takes a long time to rebound.
What excuse can Taiwan have for dumping mercury in the 1970's?
This is Linda Gail Arrigo for Taiwan Huan Bao.
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