The Regulatory and Legal Issues of the Humidifier Disinfectant Disaster in Korea

• In Event: Time-Scapes of Toxicity (2): Time of Knowing

Abstract

The humidifier disinfectant was invented as a way to easily maintain the humidity of apartments in Korea, which is exceptionally dry in winter. Humidifier disinfectants were first marketed in 1994 and sold until 2011, when it proved to be the cause of fatal lung disease. The executives of the company that made them were sentenced to imprisonment in 2017. As of 2018, more than 1,000 people have been killed by humidifier disinfectants. This paper will deal with the following two questions from an STS perspective. First, how could these deadly toxic products be sold through the strict regulatory framework? This paper will reveal the link between the structured secrecy of organizations and the regulatory failure. Second, what were the issues in civil and criminal trials over the toxicity of humidifier disinfectants? This paper will show that the legal credibility of epidemiological and experimental evidence on the causal relationship between the humidifier disinfectant and the lung disease became increased between 2011 and 2017.

Author

• Sungook Hong, Seoul National University