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| A bottle of hand disinfectant on a lecture desk in a classroom at Kyungbock High School in Seoul's Jongno District, May 19. Korea Times file |
By Ko Dong-hwan
The South Korean government has detected 10 disinfectant, deodorant or cleaner brands used against the spread of COVID-19 that do not meet state safety laws for chemical products.
The products did not validate or never passed safety inspections by state agencies that are required every three years to ensure ingredients meet safety standards, according to the Environment Ministry. Some also did not indicate on their containers that they passed the tests, violating the country's chemical products safety act.
"Those products didn't abide by the mandatory procedure of passing the safety inspection test but bypassed it and have been illegally manufactured and distributed," the ministry's Chemical Products and Biocides Division said Thursday.
One of the products, a disinfectant-cleaner, passed the tests for both categories but this was not indicated on containers and the results were not reported to authorities.
Five of the products, which were for disinfecting face masks, were found to be potentially harmful to people who wore the masks.
Another product faced three charges: It was produced differently from a manufacturing standard originally approved by the ministry; it was being sold locally when it was only approved for export, and the seller's online site used phrases that were banned by the ministry for selling disinfectants, including "non-toxic" and "eco-friendly."
The phrases, including others like "safe to humans/animals," are banned under the chemical products safety act because they could cause confusion about the products' effects on human and animal health and the environment.
The offending product brands now cannot be sold. Consumers must be refunded and the products returned to the manufacturers for disposal.
The ministry has designated 35 consumer product groups for households, offices and multi-purpose spaces as possibly harmful and subjects them to mandatory safety tests. These include detergents, bleaches, printer toners, automobile coolants and repellents.
The ministry said there are "no disinfectants that are safe to humans and the environment" and expressed concern that these products have been more widely used because of the coronavirus pandemic. It advised that only the minimum amount be used and only at places in need of disinfection.
