By Lee Kyung-min
The recent controversy over sanitary towels has failed to address the core issue of women’s health, according to an official of a women’s organization.
Leean So-young, director general at the Korea Women's Environmental Network (KWEN), said no concrete measures were discussed over the fact that many sanitary products have been found to contain toxic materials.
“The core issue of the controversy is that companies manufactured and distributed products that were not verified for safety, the government has remained negligent and women have used them for over 40 years,” she said.
The comment came at a meeting organized by the minor opposition Justice Party and KWEN at the National Assembly.
The government has yet to announce measures to allay fears and frustrations, forcing women left with few options to seek alternatives.
“Raising the issue was the right thing to do. The government blaming us for what it called inappropriate disclosure of tests, which it claims was the reason that fanned public fear, simply shows how it has neglected its duty so far,” Lee said.
“Our decision to raise the issue over the safety of a product that women use for most of their lives was in and of itself the right one. We hope this issue will not be watered down by other allegations.”
The allegation she seeks to downplay involve results of a safety test the group asked Kangwon National University professor Kim Man-goo to conduct in 2015.
The results, partially unveiled late last month only mentioned Kleannara, the manufacturer of Lilian towels, but products from other manufacturers were found to contain numerous other toxic substances. Yuhan-Kimberly, Kleannara’s major rival, had products that contained more carcinogenic agents than Lilian.
Kleannara refunded customers, ended up halting the production of its towels after major retailers took its products off the shelves, a measure no other companies have yet to take.
This triggered an allegation that the group and the professor were sponsored by Yuhan-Kimberly in a quid-pro-quo relationship, which all three deny.
An executive at Yuhan-Kimberly has worked at KWEN as a director since last year, but the group said the position did not affect the tests and disclosure of the results.
Kim is suspected of having received money from Yuhan-Kimberly for his academic research.
Earlier, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said test results submitted by the group were scientifically not credible. It said it will disclose the results of its own tests soon.
Meanwhile, Kleannara filed a complaint against Kim with the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office for defamation and obstruction of business.