On this day, 70 years ago, August 4, 1955 (June 17, 1955, the lunar calendar), a strange disease in the Kumano area of Fuchaka-pain disease. Originated in Fuji Prefecture, Japan, since the early 20th century, people found that rice in this area generally grew poorly. In 1931, another strange disease appeared. Most of the patients were women. The disease manifested as pain in the waist, hands, feet and other joints. After the disease lasts for several years, the patient will experience neuralgia and bone pain in various parts of the body, have difficulty moving, and even breathing will cause unbearable pain. In the later stages of the illness, the patient's bones soften and atrophy, his limbs are bent, his spine is deformed, and his bones are fragile. Even coughing can cause fractures. The patient couldn't eat and was in extreme pain. He often shouted,"It hurts!" "It hurts!" Some people commit suicide because they cannot bear the pain. This disease is therefore named "bone cancer disease" or "pain disease". It is said that a young girl was working in a factory and committed suicide for some unknown reason. The factory thought it was a suicide for common reasons and hastily buried him. Later, the police became suspicious, so a year later, the coffin was opened for an autopsy and found that the girl turned out to be a patient with a painful illness. There were multiple fractures on the girl's body, and even the sternum was broken. It turned out that the girl committed suicide because she couldn't bear the pain and illness. On both sides of Shentong River, more than 280 patients have been found over the years, 34 of whom have died, and the living patients are still struggling in pain. Source According to epidemiological data, the disease began to appear in the Taisho era in Japan and has long been considered to be a special endemic disease with unknown causes. It was not until after World War II that the number of cases increased, and Nagazawa officially reported the case in August 1946. In 1955, Kono and Ogino called it a painful disease in their report, and later published it publicly in the "Toyama Daily" on August 4, 1955 under the title "A Strange Disease in the Kumano Area of Funa-cho-Pain Disease." In 1957, Ogino and others proposed the theory of mineral toxicity, believing that it may be related to lead, zinc and cadmium in mine wastewater upstream of it. In 1960, it was confirmed that the cause was cadmium poisoning. In December of that year, the Toyama Prefecture Local Special Disease Countermeasures Committee was established. Then, in 1963 and 1965, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and the Ministry of Education and Culture successively organized special research teams to conduct investigations and studies. Through more than ten years of in-depth and meticulous research work in epidemiology, clinical, pathology and animal experiments, various hypotheses were ruled out. In 1968, it was confirmed and pointed out that "painful diseases" were chronic poisoning caused by cadmium. Its physical and chemical properties allow it to replace calcium ions and combine with negative ions in the body, leading to decalcification in bones due to increased cadmium content, resulting in severe bone loosening. It first damages the kidneys and then causes osteomalacia, a disease formed under the influence of inducements such as lactation during pregnancy, endocrine disorders, aging and calcium deficiency. The disease occurred because the cadmium-containing mineral processing wastewater and tail slag from a lead-zinc mine in the upper reaches of Shentong River polluted the river water, which polluted the soil of the rice fields irrigated by river water downstream, resulting in "cadmium rice". People ate "cadmium rice" for a long time and get sick by drinking water containing cadmium. As a result,"pain" was designated as the number one public hazard disease in Japan. Survey Results In 1961, Fushan County established an investigation and research team. In 1967, the research team published a joint report showing that "painful diseases" are mainly caused by heavy metals, especially cadmium poisoning. There is no specific treatment for patients with "pain and pain" in Gaoying Mining Company. There is no specific treatment for pain and pain, and there is no safe and effective method to eliminate the accumulated cadmium in the body. Therefore, it is particularly important to eliminate cadmium pollution to the environment, which is the fundamental measure to prevent the occurrence of painful diseases. In 1970, the Ministry of Health and Welfare set the standard for cadmium as "brown rice below 1.0 ppm"(the amount of cadmium per kilogram of brown rice is below 1.0 mg). Since then, the circulation and sale of brown rice with a cadmium concentration above 1.0 ppm were prohibited. 40% of the cadmium absorbed by the Japanese comes from rice. After setting a standard value for rice, good results have been achieved. In February 2011, the new standard of "less than 0.4 ppm for brown and polished rice" was implemented. In recent years, the diet and life of Japanese people has changed. Per capita rice consumption has been halved compared with its peak in 1962, and cadmium intake has continued to decrease accordingly. The Food Safety Commission of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare sets the weekly cadmium intake at 7 micrograms per kilogram of body weight, which is based on a very safe standard. At present, almost no one in Japan has ingested more than the provisionally allowed weekly intake of cadmium, and even in the Shentongchuan area has not exceeded the limit.