5/5/2023 0 Comments Brett walker toxic archipelago![]() ![]() Investigating further revealed a number of contributing factors, including Japanese notions of beauty. Researching cadmium poisoning, known as "It Hurts, It Hurts Disease" in Japan, taught him that the disease affected a disproportionate number of women, Walker said. "These are the release of certain types of toxins and heavy metals that led to tens of thousands of people dying." "These episodes aren't the fouling of a small stream," Walker said. Besides encephalitis and cadmium poisoning, some of those problems included lung disease from asbestos and sulfur dioxide and congenital deformities from methyl-mercury. Walker's book focuses on deaths, genetic deformities and other health issues that resulted from major pollution episodes in Japan. Researching insecticide poisoning and cadmium poisoning from lead and zinc mines took him to epidemiology, ecological sciences, chemistry, history, gender analysis, economics and religious studies. Researching encephalitis led him to animal husbandry, mosquito entomology, religious sentiments toward animals, and urban ecology. He took a broad approach while researching his book, which took about six years to investigate and write, Walker said. Visitors to Asia are still cautioned about Japanese B encephalitis, Walker added. Such approaches will help them avoid cultural and religious minefields and the tendency to erroneously reduce causes to one explanation and to ignore history. Rather, he said wide-ranging, interdisciplinary approaches are required for anyone who deals with major health problems resulting from industrial engineering or pollution. Walker said he's not suggesting that the Japanese ignore or cater to religious beliefs. ![]() More importantly, Buddhist monks in cities such as Tokyo on occasion resisted mosquito eradication campaigns." "And in large cities, open drainage systems created habitat for bugs. "Giant piggeries were built near cities because meat was modern and pigs ate waste," Walker said. The 19th and 20th centuries brought big changes, however. "Before the 19th century, there was little animal husbandry, for religious and economic reasons, so no pigs, and few large cities were located next to the rice paddies where mosquitoes bred," Walker said. They came with modernization and industrialization. ![]() Looking at encephalitis from a historical perspective showed that the disease wasn't a big problem in pre-industrial Japan, because the historical, cultural and ecological conditions weren't in place. Since mosquitoes breed in the standing water, the insects are available when needed to transport the souls of the dead. Buddhist monks tolerated bowls of standing water and cisterns in Japanese cemeteries, because it facilitated this transmigration process. Looking at encephalitis from a religious perspective, for example, revealed that some Buddhists believed that mosquitoes moved the souls of the dead from one world to the next in the transmigration of the soul, Walker said. Increasingly renowned as an environmental historian, Walker urges government officials, scientists, humanists and others to take a broad, interdisciplinary approach when attempting to understand and remedy colossal environmental problems, including disease. But issues arising from industrial disease are much more complex than that, said Montana State University historian Brett Walker, author of a new book, titled Toxic Archipelago: A History of Industrial Disease in Japan. ![]()
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