FIJI, Oct. 8 -- Seventy years after one of Japan's worst industrial pollution disasters, a survivor is calling on countries yet to join the Minamata Convention on Mercury to do so and help protect people and the environment.

More than 2,000 people died or suffered serious health problems after being exposed to methylmercury released into Minamata Bay in southern Japan in the 1950s and 1960s.

The mercury came from wastewater discharged by the Chisso Corporation chemical factory between 1932 and 1968.

The toxic mercury entered the sea and built up in fish and shellfish eaten by people living around Minamata Bay.

For families in Minamata, fish and seafood were an important part of everyday life.

But the same food that had fed families f...