Minamata disease is caused by extreme mercury poisoning and is named after the city of Minamata, Japan. First identified in 1956, it was soon discovered that the Chisso Corporation was polluting the city's bay with mercury, which people then ingested when they consumed the local fish. In the early 1970s, W. Eugene Smith and Aileen Smith lived in Minamata and documented the dramatic effects this disease had on the people of the town. Children were particularly susceptible to mercury poisoning's effects (and were often born with birth defects).