By Kim Hyo-jin
Lawmakers slammed SK Chemicals for providing toxic materials used in manufacturing humidifier disinfectants that are blamed for the deaths of 146 Koreans, Tuesday.
They argued that the company should be blamed for the incident along with the manufacturer Oxy Reckitt Benckiser as it distributed the toxic chemical, such as polyhexamethylene guanidine (PHMG), while being aware of its toxicity.
The claims came on the second day of hearings at the National Assembly on the deaths caused by humidifier disinfectants.
“SK Chemicals must have known they were a Class-1 carcinogen,” Rep. Jung You-sub of the ruling Saenuri Party said, noting that the company has sought to gain the patent on detoxifying CMIT/MIT, a toxic chemical, for 17 years. “It ignored safety concerns while engaged in manufacturing materials for humidifier disinfectants.”
Rep. Kim Sam-hwa of the opposition People’s Party accused the firm of hiding the toxicity of the materials intentionally, urging it to compensate the victims.
“It turned out that the company described the materials as ‘severely stimulus’ in the material safety data sheets in 1997, but later changed it to just ‘stimulus,’ since it started providing the materials to Oxy,” Kim said. “At least now, the firm should present a compensation plan for the victims.”
Some 530 victims, including pregnant women and children, suffered lung injuries and related diseases while 146 of them ― including the 103 users of Reckitt Benckiser’s products ― have died since the case was first reported in 2011.
The prosecution alleged the two chemicals used in the products ― PHMG Phosphate and PGH ― were responsible for severe illnesses and deaths. It also found that PHMG hydrochloride and CMIT/MIT were as harmful as the other two.
SK Chemicals has provided the materials to Oxy Reckitt Benckiser through mediator companies. The firm has denied that it knew the materials were toxic when they were sold to Oxy.