Kanemi Yusho Disease

This image is a screenshot taken from JIJI PRESS.

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　I've been troubled with weak constitution since I was little. I feel feverish whenever I get tired. For this reason, I've had to pass up many chances in the course of my life; choosing a senior high school and university. I didn't take my health issues into consideration when I applied for an overseas student exchange program. I was young, ambitious and so eager to do whatever I wanted that I ignored them when I applied for a job, too. When I studied overseas, I would feel tired more quickly than other students and easily get a fever. In fact, I suffered from my first fever a few days after I moved in with my host family.
　When I started my career as a sales representative after college, I got a fever on the second day of my work. I was told that I'd be able to get rid of the fever as I became accustomed to my job. But contrary to expectation, my fever would go up to 39℃ almost every evening for two years since then, and I was forced to quit the job. I had a checkup several times at a hospital, but they found nothing wrong with my health. I even consulted a psychiatrist, but he gave the same diagnosis: nothing but exhaustion from overwork. My fever lasted another 6 months to be disappeared. Since then, I decided to choose work where I don't have to move my body a lot.
　Even in my 40s, whenever I take a walk for only half an hour, I get a fever. Another doctor told me that it's probably related to my mental problem. I disagreed with her opinion, for I've had the same symptoms ever since my childhood.
　So I had thought I was born to be physically weak until the year 2012, when I was told that my parents fed me with Kanemi rice oil as an infant, which might have done harm to my body.

　Until then, I only heard of Kanemi Yusho by its name. I wasn't fully convinced that the oil I took long time ago was still affecting my health, but I started to check it out on the Internet and books.

　I found contact phone numbers of Public Administrations, Health care centers, Yusho study group at Kyushu University, and Yusho Counselors and consulted with them about my symptoms, but they didn't give me any answer which satisfied me.
　They just told me they had nothing to say for sure, just because I was not (and I'm still not) a certified Kanemi Yusho patient. They didn't even seem to have much knowledge about the disease and its symptoms. And they added that the first thing I had to do is/was to be certified as a Yusho victim.

　According to the information on the web, the symptoms seemed to differ from person to person.

　I looked for concrete information by victims but couldn't find any on the Internet. Nagasaki Newspaper and Kyushu Broadcasting TV were the most helpful from the perspective that they had information of symptoms and the Yusho incident, but I couldn't find a contact phone number for victims.

　However when I called Nagasaki Newspaper, the phone operator got me through to Mr. Yamada, who were/are in charge of the incident. He kindly let me know the phone number at Mr. Ise of YSC(Yusho Support Center) and I talked to him on the phone and started to know more about the symptoms and the incident.

　I've been wanting to create an information website on Kanemi Yusho for the above reasons: easy access to contact phone numbers for people who started to worry about their health related with Kanemi rice oil. My oversea friends tried to look for Kanemi Yusho on the Internet, but they couldn't find a good one. That's why I wanted to make an English website too.

　When someone searches the Internet for information about Kanemi Yusho, I hope he can find a good information website like ours. I want to tell the victims' situation to more and more people, not only in Japan but all over the world.

　Kyushu University has been the only study group of Kanemi Yusho over 40 years, but they haven't made medical progress to ease victims' symptoms. Since it is the only study place set by the Japanese government for long years without making progress, I want more medical researchers and doctors to study the way to eliminate dioxin-like compounds taken into our bodies.

　I strongly feel the need for a website, which not only describes the symptoms of Kanemi Yusho, but also the lives of many victims in detail, which were forced to change in various ways just because they accidentally consumed contaminated oil.

　I am not intending to denounce the offending enterprise by making this website. I just wanted this incident not to be buried as a past history incident because there are still a lot of people who are suffering.

　I hope this website will be some help for as-yet-uncertified victims without any reasonable cause, next generations, and will lead to medical progress and protect victims' human rights.

　I sincerely hope I will be able to regard my country Japan as a good country which protects various victims not only food poisoning but accidents, calamities, etc.

　Thanks to great friends I met through Q-Eng, an English study SNS, for helping me realize my dream of establishing a Kanemi Yusho website in Oct, 2013. I realize the power of the Internet and people's good will through these wonderful friends. And I have a feeling that God showed me a light that we can still hope for good things in our lives.

　Yurick