Itai-itai disease

Itai-itai disease is the name given to the mass cadmium poisoning of Toyama Prefecture, Japan, which began around 1912. Local people coined the Japanese name, which means roughly it hurts, it hurts, for the severe pain sufferers felt in the spine and joints. Cadmium poisoning can also soften the bones and cause kidney failure, and effective treatment uses chelators to promote urinary excretion of the metal. The cadmium was released into rivers by mining companies in the mountains upstream, and those companies were successfully sued for the damage. Remediation of the affected region has been under way since 1972 and was mostly complete by 2012, with costs paid in part by the national government, Mitsui Mining and the Gifu and Toyama prefectural governments. The episode is counted among the Four Big Pollution Diseases of Japan.