Abstract
In the **zu River Basin of Toyama Prefecture, the operation of a large-scale lead-zinc mine and smelting plant (Kamioka Mine) located upstream, from the 1890s to 1970s, released large volumes of slag and wastewater, which polluted the environment with heavy metals, such as cadmium. Rice paddies with an area of 1500 ha were contaminated with heavy metals as those soils used water from the **zu River for irrigation. The polluted irrigation water was also used for drinking; hence, residents of the **zu River Basin developed a chronic cadmium poisoning symptom, locally known as the itai-itai disease. In this chapter, we discuss the history of the mining pollution in the **zu River Basin that lasted for over 100 years, proceedings for the damages by the itai-itai disease intended to clarify the liability of the mining company, and history and current situation of remediation of the environment contaminated with cadmium through inspection of the mine by local residents, which was granted to them as the result of winning the case.
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Aoshima, K. (2022). Itai-Itai Disease: Health Issues Caused by Environmental Exposure to Cadmium and Residents’ Fight to Rebuild the Environment in the **zu River Basin in Toyama. In: Nakajima, T., Nakamura, K., Nohara, K., Kondoh, A. (eds) Overcoming Environmental Risks to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Current Topics in Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6249-2_3
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