Perceptive aversion to mercury in Japan - Part III: A comparison between individual aversion and personal perception toward mercury

Abstract

According to the effectuation of the Minamata Convention on mercury in 2017, environmentally safe disposal of unused mercury is requested. Mercury immobilization facilities and final disposal landfill sites are probably regarded NIMBY and it will be greatly difficult to build them for mercury management in terms of public acceptance. If Japanese citizens have a strongly negative perception to mercury, it makes mercury management, in particular mercury final disposal, more and more difficult. In this context, this study quantitatively measured perceptive aversion to mercury and then compared it with recognition of mercury. The recognition degree showed a strong correlation with the recognition of Minamata disease. It suggests that education and social campaigns on Minamata disease have helped high recognition of mercury in Japan. Individual aversion toward mercury showed no dependency on gender and age. When recognition of mercury is weaker than neutral, individual aversion was constant regardless of recognition degree. On the other hand, individual aversion increased with the increase of recognition degree when the recognition was stronger than neutral. The increase of mercury recognition by educational campaigns of mercury issues might increase aversion toward mercury.