Humidifier Disinfectant Nightmare

Oxy Sacsac humidifier disinfectants.
Oxy Sacsac humidifier disinfectants.

 

Victims of humidifier disinfectants joining with London Hazards Protests against Reckitt Benckiser in front of Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom on May 21.
Victims of humidifier disinfectants joining with London Hazards Protests against Reckitt Benckiser in front of Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom on May 21.

 

A demonstration is being held in front of the Yeouido IFC building, where the headquarters of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser is located, at noon on Dec 7.
A demonstration is being held in front of the Yeouido IFC building, where the headquarters of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser is located, at noon on Dec 7.

 

From April 2011 until now 143 people, mostly mothers and infants, have died from breathing in humidifier disinfectants. The disinfectants contain dangerous chemicals such as Polyhexamethylene guanidine or PHMG, Oligo (2-(2-ethoxy)-ethoxyethyl) guanidinium-chloride or PGH, and Chloromethylisothiazolinone or CMIT. These chemicals were put into humidifiers to be used as disinfectants when running the home appliance, and caused grave injury and death to some victims that breathed them in.

The deadly effects of these disinfectants have been suspected since 2011 when five pregnant women died in the intensive care unit of Asan Medical Center in Seoul. The humidifier disinfectants were revealed to cause lung damage, leading to death. Patients suffered from airway injuries, difficulty in breathing, extreme coughing, and finally rapid fibrosis of the lungs.

The Asan Hospital reported the incident to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2011. The CDC consequently performed an epidemiological investigation on the victims, which had increased to seven pregnant women and a man, the same year. Later in August 2011, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported their findings that the use of humidifier disinfectants was presumed to be the reason for the lung damage. They also recommended not to use humidifier disinfectants and ordered the chemical manufacturer, Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, to stop selling the deadly product and recall existing products. In November 2011, the product’s toxicity to human bodies was officially confirmed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

From April 2011 to May 2015, 530 people were injured by humidifier disinfectants with 143 deaths, according to data from the Ministry of Environment’s first inquiry in 2013 and second inquiry in 2014. Some of the most seriously injured victims had to pay large amounts of money for lung transplants and other treatments to try to repair the damage to their bodies.

The main product that created so many victims in such a short time was Oxy Sacsac Humidifier Disinfectant, manufactured by Reckitt Benckiser Korea. The disinfecting properties of Oxy Sacsac were created by PHMG, a chemical manufactured by SK Chemical, or Yugong before the company’s name changed, since 1994. In fact, putting disinfecting chemicals directly into humidifier water tanks was considered a Yugong innovation at that time.

Oxy Reckitt Benckiser is a British multinational corporation, and Reckitt Benckiser Korea is its local subsidiary. Reckitt Benckiser took over Oxy’s Household Products Division, which was an affiliate of the Oriental Chemical Industries Group, and established Oxy Reckitt Benckiser in 2001, owning a 100 percent stake in the subsidiary and taking all profits made in Korea for the last 11 years.

Oxy is known for its laundry bleach Oxy Clean and the Hippo Brand series of moisture remover and deodorizer. Oxy Clean is the most well-known brand of laundry bleach in Korea with an overwhelming market share.

According to the document that the Ministry of Environment submitted to Korea’s National Assembly in 2015, 403 out of the 530 total humidifier disinfectant victims, amounting to 76 percent, had used Oxy Sacsac humidifier disinfectants. And, 100 out of the 142 dead, or 70 percent of the dead, had been exposed to Oxy disinfectants.

However, Reckitt Benckiser has not officially acknowledged its faults so far, even though some victims have protested in front of the Oxy Reckitt Benckiser offices in Yeouido, Seoul, and also in front of its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The most recent protest in the United Kingdom was in May 2015.

In 2012, Oxy Reckitt Benckiser was prosecuted related to a case of humidifier disinfectants. However, the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s office decided on a stay of prosecution, because the Korean government had not investigated the causal relationship between the disease and humidifier disinfectants.

But by May 2015, the Ministry of Environment announced that lung damage came from humidifier disinfectants, according to its second inquiry in 2014, which was made by performing epidemiological investigations and animal testing. The prosecution's office finally resumed its investigation in October this year.

Victims and their families held a press conference at the Korea Federation for Environmental Movements building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Sept. 1 this year, announcing that they will file an international lawsuit against the Reckitt Benckiser headquarters in the UK. A total of 11 people, including the representatives of the 5 dead and 6 patients undergoing treatment, are bringing the lawsuit.

In the meantime, the Korean government received applications for compensation from victims twice, in 2013 and 2014, and now the third application is under way. It ends on Dec. 31 this year, and there is currently no plan to receive more applications in the future. On the Web site of the Asian Citizen’s Center for Environment and Health, www.eco-health.org, anyone can check the names and images of humidifier disinfectants related to the case. And applications for compensation are available at the Web site of the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute, www.keiti.re.kr.

Oxy Reckitt Benckiser has not yet given out anything to show its stance on the deadly defective material. In spite of repeated phone calls by Business Korea on Dec. 28 and 29 to get a position on the continuing lawsuits against it, the company did not even pick up the phone, indicating that it is not interested in any communication with the local community.

Copyright © BusinessKorea. Prohibited from unauthorized reproduction and redistribution