Kanemi Oil Illness Cases in Fukuoka and Nagasaki - 1968

Kanemi Oil Illness Cases in Fukuoka and Nagasaki - 1968

The 1968 Kanemi Oil Pollution Incident was a serious food contamination incident that spread throughout Fukuoka and Nagasaki prefectures. The incident began when edible rice bran oil produced by Kanemi Warehouse (Nagasaki City) was contaminated with PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and dioxins, causing health problems for many people. The cause was that the heating medium (Unipearl 100H) used by Kanemi Warehouse in its manufacturing process contained PCBs, and the chemicals leaked into the oil.

The victims were spread around Fukuoka and Nagasaki prefectures, and about 14,000 people developed skin pigmentation, chloroacne, poor health, and internal organ diseases. Furthermore, the damage was not limited to one generation; the children of the victims have also been confirmed to be affected. Patients with particularly severe disease have shown no improvement in their condition over a long period of time, which has had a significant impact on their daily lives.

After the incident, the Japanese government and Kanemi Warehouse made efforts to compensate the victims and support their treatment, but a complete resolution was not reached, and issues related to the amount of compensation and continued treatment remain. Furthermore, many of the victims have suffered from lack of certification for many years. This case highlights the inadequacies of chemical substance management in Japan and has triggered calls for stricter regulations on food safety and environmental issues.