Humidifier disinfectant incident (加濕器 殺菌劑 事件, Humidifier Disinfectant Case) is an incident in South Korea in which people died or developed lung diseases, non-pulmonary diseases, and systemic diseases due to humidifier disinfectants contained in the spray liquid of humidifiers. According to the tally of the Special Investigation Committee on Social Disasters as of July 17, 2020, 6,817 people reported damage to the Ministry of Environment, of whom 1,553 died. The number of unidentified deceased victims is estimated at 14,000, and it is known that the number of people with experience of health damage reaches 670,000.1 In 2011, the illness was initially known as a lung disease of unknown cause, and lungs of pregnant women, housewives, and infants were affected, with some receiving lung transplants. As a result of epidemiological investigations, it was determined to be caused by humidifier disinfectants, and on November 11, 2011, six types of humidifier disinfectants were recalled.
Background
SK Chemicals developed the manufacturing methods for PHMG and CMIT/MIT, the raw materials of humidifier disinfectants, in 1991 when it was still Yukong, and from 1994 to 2011 supplied them to major manufacturers and distributors such as Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, Homeplus, and Lotte Mart.2
In 1994, the Bio-Tech Business Team of Yukong (now SK Chemicals) announced that it had invested 1.8 billion won to develop "Humidifier Mate," which completely sterilizes bacteria that cause various diseases when added to water. At the time, SK Chemicals widely promoted that it had developed the humidifier disinfectant not only as the first in Korea but also as the first in the world.3
The incident involved a total of 27 sales companies and 20 raw material supply and manufacturing companies. On August 31, 2011, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency first publicly announced the results of its epidemiological investigation, presumed humidifier disinfectants to be the cause of lung damage of unknown origin,4 and recommended suspension of the use and sale of the products.5
According to a humidifier disinfectant damage survey conducted by the Ministry of Environment from 2014 to 2018, as of June 2018, of 4,748 victims, 431 were judged to be Level 1 or Level 2 damage. Victims at Levels 1 and 2, who are eligible for government support, were confirmed as 172 in the first survey, 51 in the second, 80 in the third, and 128 in the fourth.6
Oxy's household products business, established in 1991 as an affiliate of the Tong Yang Chemical Group (now OCI),7 was sold to the British multinational Reckitt Benckiser in April 2001.8
Humidifier disinfectants, which are known to have been launched in 1994, sold about 600,000 units annually until 2011. The Fair Trade Commission estimated the annual market size at 1 billion to 2 billion won.8
Cause
The disinfectant ingredients of humidifier disinfectants were mainly Polyhexamethylene guanidine (PHMG) and oligo-(or 2-)ethoxyethyl guanidine chloride (PGH), and in some cases Methylchloroisothiazolinone (MCI; MCIT) was used. These substances have only about one-fifth to one-tenth the skin toxicity of other disinfectants, so they were used not only in humidifier disinfectants but also in various products such as Shampoo and wet wipes. However, research had not been conducted on the toxicity that arises when these ingredients are inhaled through the respiratory tract, so no restrictions were imposed until victims emerged. In particular, because humidifier disinfectants were classified as industrial products, only general safety standards under the "Act on Quality Management and Safety of Industrial Products" applied, rather than the Food Sanitation Act or the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, and therefore the harm was not prevented.
Humidifier disinfectants harmful to the human body include the PHMG-based Oxy Ssaksak (Oxy Reckitt Benckiser), Wyzlec (Lotte Mart), and Homeplus (Homeplus); the PGH-based Sepu (Butterfly Effect); and the MCIT-based Aekyung Humidifier Mate (Aekyung) and E-Plus (E-Mart).9
Related companies (incomplete)10
Operators: Oxy Reckitt Benckiser Home Care, SK Innovation, SK Chemicals, Aekyung, Henkel, Cheongpung, Innerworks, Atosafe, Dongsan C&G, JnK Science, Sepu, Water&People, Atoorganic, Biophyton, Carrefour Korea, Sublime, Shinhee Home Wash, Malgeun Nara, Clanad/Nutria, Welbeth
Distribution: Daiso, LG Household & Health Care, GS Retail, Lotte Mart, Homeplus, E-Mart
Raw material supply and manufacturing companies: Hanbit Chemical, SK Chemicals, Yongma Industrial, Aekyung Industrial, Avercos, General Bio, Pu&Co, Hwain Chemical, Pillar Mulsan, Yeonhee Industrial, Duri Sera, PDI, Goryeo Chemical, Bulls One New Materials, Sando Ggabi, Edichem, Shine Up, Yangyang Industrial, Ilchil Chemical, Hosan
Timeline
In April 2011, pregnant women with acute respiratory failure were admitted to hospitals one after another. On May 10, 2011, a 34-year-old woman among the hospitalized patients died; in June 2011, three women died. On August 31, 2011, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency presumed humidifier disinfectants to be the cause of lung disease. On September 30, 2011, the Korea Consumer Agency recommended that users refrain from using humidifier disinfectants. On November 11, 2011, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency ordered the collection of humidifier disinfectants. On January 17, 2012, four victims filed damages lawsuits against humidifier disinfectant companies and the state. On February 3, 2012, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency finally confirmed humidifier disinfectants as the cause of lung damage. On July 23, 2012, the Fair Trade Commission referred four humidifier disinfectant sales companies to the prosecution and imposed fines.11
On November 11, 2011, the products ordered collected by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, that is, products ordered recalled, were Oxy Ssaksak Humidifier Duty <liquid> (Hanbit Chemical), Sepu Humidifier Disinfectant (Butterfly Effect Co., Ltd.), Wyzlec Humidifier Disinfectant (Lotte Mart private-brand product/Yongma Industrial), Homeplus Humidifier Purifier (Homeplus private-brand product/Yongma Industrial), Atoorganic Humidifier Disinfectant (Atoorganic12), and Humidifier Clean-Up (Costco private-brand product/GloenM).13
On July 22, 2012, among the six types of humidifier disinfectants, four companies—Hanbit Chemical, Homeplus, Butterfly Effect, and Atoorganic—which advertised that they were "safe for the human body," were referred to the prosecution by the Fair Trade Commission, while Lotte Mart and Costco, which did not express safety in their advertisements, were not referred.14
Meanwhile, Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, which manufactured Oxy Ssaksak, raised questions about the validity of the animal tests conducted by the government and the damages lawsuits filed by victims through the major law firm Kim & Chang, and argued that under the law at the time of the incident, its conduct was not unlawful.1516
On April 28, 2016, the Special Investigation Team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office summoned and questioned Mr. O, representative of the domestic humidifier manufacturer Sepu. In 2009, Sepu sold its humidifier disinfectant with the label "harmless to the human body and safe even when inhaled" on the bottom of the product. However, the investigation revealed that PGH (a chemical substance used for disinfectant purposes), used as the main ingredient of the disinfectant, contains toxicity that causes lung damage.8
Then, when suspicions arose that Oxy had manipulated hazard test reports and paid bribes to university professors, the prosecution conducted search and seizure operations at Seoul National University and Hoseo University, and among them, Professor Cho, a veterinary toxicology professor at Seoul National University, was urgently arrested on bribery charges.17
When these facts came to light, civic groups and consumers spontaneously launched a boycott movement. According to an online survey,18 95.8% of respondents answered that they would not buy Oxy's products, which they considered unethical. As a result, Oxy's sales were reported to have decreased by about 90% compared with when it was operating normally, and its employees were reported to have decreased by more than 70%.19
In addition, Shin Hyun-woo, former CEO of Oxy, which caused the largest number of casualties in this incident, and Mr. O, former CEO of Sepu, were arrested, and the investigation was expected to expand to large marts that produced humidifier disinfectants on their own, such as Homeplus and Lotte Mart.20 Sepu closed its business when the humidifier disinfectant incident erupted in 2011, and suspicions arose that other companies, including Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, would also withdraw from the business. Oxy Reckitt Benckiser denied reports of withdrawal, stating, "We are focusing on compensating victims of humidifier disinfectants and are resolving the issue company-wide, but there are no plans to withdraw."21
On May 20, the Special Investigation Team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office summoned a Lotte Mart official and an official of D Company, a global company of American origin. D Company was a company that participated in the product planning stage when Lotte Mart launched its private-brand humidifier disinfectant around 2006.22
On May 23, the Special Investigation Team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office decided to include people harmed by humidifier disinfectants while in the fetal state among the victims. Victims also referred former Ministers of Environment Kang Hyeon-wook and Kim Myung-ja to the prosecution, holding them responsible for permitting the domestic importation of PHMG and omitting hazard tests.23
From May 20 to June 26, over about a month, Oxy Reckitt Benckiser held meetings three times with Oxy humidifier disinfectant victims at Levels 1 and 2 from the first and second surveys, to discuss an apology and compensation plan.24 Based on this, on July 31, a compensation plan for Oxy humidifier disinfectant victims at Levels 1 and 2 from the first and second surveys was announced.25
On June 7, the Special Investigation Team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office re-summoned and questioned John Lee, former CEO of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser. After completing this re-investigation, the prosecution reportedly was considering requesting a warrant for his arrest on charges including occupational negligent homicide and negligent injury, and violation of the Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising.26
However, in trials held a total of three times from January 16, 2017, to January 25, 2018, he was acquitted on the grounds that it was difficult to view him as having been involved in the manufacturing and sales process of humidifier disinfectants. Shin Hyun-woo, former CEO of Oxy, was sentenced to seven years in prison on the grounds that he knew that humidifier disinfectants could have inhalation toxicity but did not verify it.27
On June 15, the Special Investigation Team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office indicted, while detained, Mr. Jo, head of Oxy's research institute, on charges including occupational negligent homicide and negligent injury. According to the prosecution, from late 2003 to August 2011, Mr. Jo was accused of allowing the manufacture and sale of humidifier disinfectants while knowing their harmfulness, which caused 70 deaths and lung diseases in 105 people; he was also accused of approving the use of phrases such as "safe ingredients for the human body" and "reassuring for children" in the marketing department of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser without any scientific basis. Meanwhile, it was found that Oxy had received reports of damage cases from users of humidifier disinfectants in 2007 and 2010, but Mr. Jo ignored them.28 Mr. Jo was sentenced on appeal on April 28, 2017, to one year in prison, suspended for two years.
On June 24, criminal trials were held for nine people, including employees of Lotte Mart and Homeplus, and the Supreme Court ruling was handed down on January 25, 2018. Homeplus Co., Ltd. was sentenced to a fine of 150 million won, and the purchasing department head and the legal compliance team leader of Homeplus Grocery were sentenced to four years in prison each, while the remaining defendants were sentenced to between two and four years in prison without labor.29
On September 21, Rakesh Kapoor, chairman of the Reckitt Benckiser Group, met with a National Assembly special committee and families of victims at the company's headquarters in the United Kingdom and officially apologized to the victims.30
On September 29, a professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine of Seoul National University, who had been put on trial for manipulating research reports, was sentenced to two years in prison at first instance. This was the first case in which an actual prison sentence was handed down in connection with the humidifier disinfectant incident. He was also accused of pocketing 12 million won separately, apart from research service fees, from October to December 2011, and of embezzling about 56 million won in goods payments from the Seoul National University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation.31
On January 6, 2017, the court found 17 of 19 current and former executives and employees of humidifier disinfectant manufacturers guilty, and sentenced the Oxy corporation, Lotte, and Homeplus to fines of 150 million won for violating the Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising.
On January 20, 2017, the National Assembly passed the Humidifier Disinfectant Relief Act and ordered humidifier disinfectant manufacturers and raw material suppliers to pay a total of 125 billion won into a special relief account.32
On August 8, 2017, President Moon Jae-in made the first official apology to humidifier disinfectant victims during a meeting with them and promised to expand the funding for relief.33
On August 9, 2017, the special act for relief of humidifier disinfectant victims was enacted.34
On September 8, 2017, Oxy Reckitt Benckiser paid 67.4 billion won in special relief fund contributions as a lump sum.35
On December 19, 2017, Fair Trade Commission Chairman Kim Sang-jo acknowledged the error of having granted immunity to SK Chemicals and Aekyung in handling the humidifier disinfectant issue and issued an apology.36
On February 12, 2018, the Fair Trade Commission ordered SK Chemicals, Aekyung, and E-Mart to correct their conduct, imposed a fine of 134 million won, and referred SK Chemicals and Aekyung to the prosecution.37
On March 29, 2018, the Special Investigation Committee on Social Disasters was launched and a humidifier disinfectant subcommittee was formed.38
On August 9, 2018, an amendment to the special act for relief of humidifier disinfectant victims was adopted; it is scheduled to take effect from February 15, 2019.39
On January 11, 2024, the former CEOs of SK Chemicals and Aekyung were found guilty on appeal, overturning the not-guilty verdict at first instance.40
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