The government said Friday it will push to lower the threshold of recognizing the damage caused by toxic humidifier disinfectants amid an on-going probe against the manufacturers and escalating public uproar.
 

The Environment Ministry said it will consider recognizing respiratory diseases and health problems as damage caused from use of the toxic humidifier disinfectants.

So far, the government has limited the damage scope to those suffering from lung-related diseases, recognizing 530 as official victims, 143 of them dead. Civic groups, however, have argued that a total of 1,528 users were affected, with 228 dead. Unrecognized users have not been eligible for financial support from the government.

The ministry said it would conduct more health research to confirm the clearer causality between the health damage and the product use.

Meanwhile, the boycott against humidifier sterilizer manufacturer Oxy Reckitt Benckiser is expanding across the country, with Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon joining the move calling it an “immoral company.”

“The society will only become healthy if immoral companies or labor-management relations that step beyond social magnanimity are punished,” he said during a live-cast on Facebook late Thursday.

“As far as I know, the (Seoul Metropolitan Government) City Hall is using some Oxy products. I’ll make sure we do not use them anymore,” he said, calling the humidifier sterilizer case “the bedroom version of Sewol ferry disaster.”

The boycott movement has started both online and off-line amid public uproar over the belated investigation and company apologies related to the disinfectant products that have been blamed for deaths of at least 143 since 2011. A total of 13 manufacturers and distributors are involved in a lawsuit filed by the victims and their families. Four are under investigation by the prosecution. Oxy Ssak Ssak was the most used brand by the alleged victims -- around 70 percent.

“We should make sure that products of such immoral companies cannot set foot in the market as soon as the prosecutorial probe result is released,” Park said.

The boycott began to spread this week, with pharmacists being the most active. Oxy has been selling more than 120 household items and five medicine products here, including sore throat medicine Strepsils and antacid Gaviscon.

On Tuesday, a group of pharmacists in Busan vowed to stop selling Oxy products, urging the company to take social and moral responsibility. The group comprises of some 3,000 pharmacists.

Other pharmacists across the country have also individually taken part in the move

The Korean Pharmaceutical Association said that it fully understands the boycott movement.

“(The association) shares the same awareness that (all) should take this case as an opportunity to classify public health-related products as ‘sanitary aid’ and raise the safety standards,” said the KPA after holding an urgent meeting Friday.

Political parties also accelerated their moves to help the victims. While President Park Geun-hye on Thursday ordered that relevant organizations take appropriate measures for the victims.

“As the government has provided 3.7 billion won ($3.2 million) for damages to victims so far, there is a need to compensate them first by enacting a special regulation, and then exercising the right to indemnity against the company,” said Rep. Kim Jung-hoon of the ruling party on Friday.

“The government should also check whether the victims had suffered damage to other organs other than the lungs because of the humidifier disinfectant. A parliamentary hearing should be held after the ongoing probe is finished.”

Earlier this week, The Minjoo Party of Korea said it would consider enacting a special law that would allow the compensation for victims and holding a parliamentary hearing if necessary.

The People’s Party joined the Minjoo’s move on Thursday, saying that it was urgent to systematically overhaul the system to prevent a reoccurrence.

Meanwhile, the prosecution has reportedly found that the company Butterfly Effect, whose toxic humidifier disinfectant Cefu it says killed 14 and injured 13, had manufactured the product without any professional knowledge.

The company head, surnamed Oh who was summoned Thursday, reportedly testified that he had obtained the manufacturing formula on the Internet, research data and dissertations.

Cefu contained a chemical known as PGH, which is thought to be more harmful than PHMG, which Oxy had used as its main ingredient. Unlike PHMG, PGH solution is not toxic when ingested and causes little irritation, but its toxicity through inhalation has not been tested.

The investigators suspected that Oh overlooked the potential health impacts of inhaling PGH and skipped the safety test.

Oh and his colleague allegedly exported the ingredient from a Danish company and mixed it with water. At the time, the company had only about 10 employees, none of which had expertise in chemical manufacturing or chemical research, the prosecution said.

The company which sold Cefu from 2009 to 2011, recorded the third-largest number of dead victims. Oxy recorded the highest with 70, followed by Lotte Mart with 16.

The investigators are seeking accidental manslaughter charges against Oh. Prosecutors continued the probe Friday by questioning two more Oxy officials.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)