South Korean humidifier disinfectant case

South Korean humidifier disinfectant case
Hangul	가습기 살균제 사건
Hanja	加濕器 殺菌劑 事件
Revised Romanization	Gaseupgi salgyunje sageon
McCune–Reischauer	Kasŭpki salgyunje sagŏn

The South Korean humidifier disinfectant case was an outbreak of lung diseases in South Korea caused by chemicals contained in several humidifier disinfectants. It is estimated to have caused over 14,000 deaths.

History

Background

In November 1994, South Korean firm Yugong, now known as SK Chemicals, began selling a humidifier sterilizer on the domestic market that it claimed was “capable of completely eradicating bacteria in humidifiers”.

Yugong, the first company to sell humidifier sterilizer, didn’t submit PHMG for government review until 1996, two years after it went on sale. The ensuing Ministry of Environment report, issued in March 1997, categorized the chemical as “non-toxic substance” based on the company’s proposal to use it as an antibacterial in carpets.

After Yugong became SK Chemicals, the company exported PHMG to Australia and, in 2003, supplied Canberra with a report that the chemical may be dangerous to inhale, but “watched from afar while humidifier sterilizer using PHMG was circulating on the market,” a member of the Asian Citizen’s Center for Environment and Health asserted in an interview with the Business Watch website. SK Chemical denies knowingly supplying PHMG for use in humidifier sterilizer.

In 1996, South Korean hygiene brand Oxy had started using PHMG in a humidifier sterilizer product, sold under the brand Oxy Ssak Ssak (옥시싹싹). In 2001, Reckitt Benckiser acquired the South Korean Oxy brand from Oriental Chemical Industries, forming Oxy-Reckitt Benckiser, later Reckitt Benckiser Korea. One month after the product went on sale, Oxy-Reckitt Benckiser was reported to have made inquiries at two separate laboratories, in the US and the UK, about conducting a toxicity test. However, this never took place.

Several other companies in Korea made humidifier sterilizers with PHMG between 2001 and 2011.

Outbreak

The outbreak was detected in children between 2006 and 2011, and in adults in the spring of 2011; the mortality rate in children was 58 percent, while among adults, 53 percent died or required lung transplants. Autopsies and epidemiological work, followed up by animal studies, led the South Korean CDC to identify polyhexamethylene guanidine (PHMG) used in humidifier disinfectants as the cause.

Investigation

The main cause of the lung diseases was the chemicals PHMG, methylchloroisothiazolinone (CMIT), methylisothiazolinone (MIT) and oligo(2-(2-ethoxy)-ethoxyethyl)guanidinium-chloride (PGH). These chemicals were previously used in shampoo, wet wipes, and cleaners for water and septic tanks, PHMG and PGH were believed to be harmless when in contact with human skin or consumed. However, experiments by the South Korean government found pulmonary toxicity of PHMG and PGH when inhaled as a vapor. PHMG and PGH caused pulmonary fibrosis when experimented on animals. This led to severe damage breathing difficulties and can be fatal.

Additionally, Oxy Ssak Ssak changed their bottle design in 2006, removing a safety feature

On November 11, 2011, six humidifier disinfectants which contain PHMG and PGH were recovered. PHMG and PGH was banned in 2011, and new cases ceased occurring. In .

However, later on, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not find a causal relationship that CMIT and MIT in humidifier disinfectants cause pulmonary fibrosis. This result, still, did not mean that CMIT and MIT were safe, as the chemicals also affected the brain and skin to varying extents. At least five victims used CMIT or MIT-based humidifier disinfectants.

Most victims used Reckitt Benckiser's humidifier disinfectant, Oxy Ssak Ssak (옥시싹싹), which led the British firm to various court indictments in the years following 2011.

In popular culture

The 2022 South Korean film Air Murder is based on these events.

See also

• Reckitt Benckiser