Today’s podcast takes an international turn, and we go back in time to visit the small town of Minamata, Japan in the 1950s to see what they went through due to a chemical factory’s bad practices.  And then we turn to the sprawling mecca of Mosul, Iraq in the 1970s, and how the citizens of Mosul and the surrounding cities suffered the same disease that tore through Minamata, though because of very different circumstances.

As always, you can download the podcast from here, find us on iTunes, or listen to the episode on the embedded player below.

Sources for the podcast include

• Wikipedia: Minimata Disease, Chisso Company
• InsiderMonkey.com: 11 Countries that Consume The Most Fish
• Boston University: Minimata Disease
• The Register: The Minimata Disaster – 50 Years On
• Devastating Disasters: Iraq Mercury Poisoning – August 1971
• Toxopedia: Mercury Poisoning in Iraq – 1971
• Smithsonian Magazine: Four Deadly Disasters Caused By Food