Japan minister apologizes for interrupting Minamata victims' remarks

Japan's environment minister apologized Wednesday after his officials interrupted remarks by some victims of the Minamata mercury-poisoning disease by muting their microphones at a meeting in Kumamoto Prefecture last week."I sincerely apologize from the bottom of my heart. I am truly sorry," the minister, Shintaro Ito, said while meeting with victims in Minamata in the country's southwest.Teppei Kiuchi, director of the ministry's Special Environmental Diseases Office and moderator of the meeting, also offered an apology following a press conference held earlier in the day in Minamata by a v…READ FULL ARTICLE