KAGOSHIMA, Japan - Nguyen Duc, a Vietnamese man born as a conjoined twin apparently due to the aftereffects of the defoliant Agent Orange used by the U.S. military in the Vietnam War, plans to visit areas affected by the pollution-caused Minamata disease in southwest Japan, according to sources close to the matter.
Duc, 45, plans to meet in October with a man in Kagoshima Prefecture who has not been officially recognized as a Minamata disease patient, before visiting neighboring Kumamoto Prefecture in December to meet another sufferer, Minamata disease victim groups and others involved have said.
The victims said they and Duc share the experience of suffering health damage from toxic chemicals. They hope to work with him to convey the realities of pollution-related diseases and highlight chemical contamination as a global environmental issue.
In Kagoshima, Duc is scheduled to meet Etsuzo Murayama, 81, a resident of Izumi in the prefecture.
"Together with Duc, I want to stress that mercury pollution is an issue the world must tackle," said Murayama, referring to the neurological disorder caused by mercury-tainted water discharged by a chemical plant.
In the city of Minamata in Kumamoto Prefecture, Duc is due to meet Shinobu Sakamoto, 70, who developed the disease due to maternal exposure and has long spoken in Japan and abroad about the suffering caused by the disease.
Sakamoto, who met Duc in Vietnam last October, has said that the effects of Agent Orange continue, adding that she wants to help raise awareness of the suffering the agent has caused in Vietnam.
Minamata disease was officially recognized in 1956 when local health authorities received a report from a doctor about the emergence of an unknown illness. The Japanese government recognized it as a pollution-caused disease in 1968.
Duc was separated from his conjoined twin brother in an operation assisted by Japanese doctors in 1988 at age 7. Since then, he has visited Japan many times and given talks on the defoliant's damage to the environment and the health of local people as well as the importance of peace.
He has undergone repeated operations and suffers from health problems including kidney disease. His brother Viet died in 2007 at the age of 26 due to pneumonia and abdominal bleeding.
