S.Korea offers more support to sterilizer victims- News - NHK WORLD - English
South Korea's government has pledged more support to people who suffered lung damage after exposure to toxins from sterilizers used in humidifiers.
Vice environment minister Jeong Yeon-man told reporters on Friday that starting in July, the government will subsidize living expenses and offer support to family members caring for the victims. The government already covers medical costs.
Jeong promised to launch a new inquiry into how the sterilizers affect human health, and to increase from one to 9 the number of designated hospitals that can certify victims. Jeong said the government will do its best to ease the victims' suffering.
The government says 95 people have died after inhaling toxins released by the sterilizers, which were sold between 2001 and 2011. Many more women and infants suffered lung damage.
On Tuesday, prosecutors filed charges against 4 people, including 2 former heads of companies that made and sold the products. But the government faces increased criticism that its delayed response caused the damage to spread.
Korea offers extra aid for humidifier disinfectant victims
Meanwhile, the prosecution carried on with its probe on the distributors and sellers of the harmful humidifier disinfectants.
On Friday, the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office summoned the former CEOs of Lotte Mart and of Homeplus for questioning, mainly on whether they had conducted safety test on their disputed products. Humidifier disinfectants containing PHMG were on sale at the two wholesale stores in 2004 and 2006 respectively, allegedly causing more than 41 and 28 deaths each.
Since the toxicity of the disinfectant was first reported back in 2011, South Korea has confirmed 221 victims, of which 177 had used Oxy products, produced by Oxy Reckitt Benckiser.
[Newsmaker] Reckitt Benckiser apologizes, offers funds
Amid the prosecution’s widening probe into Oxy Reckitt Benckiser Korea and other companies related to their toxic humidifier disinfectants, the British firm apologized on Thursday to victims and unveiled a plan to offer an additional 5 billion won ($4.4 million) in humanitarian assistance.
So far, the humidifier disinfectants have been blamed for claiming 228 lives in Korea for a harmful substance they contained that caused serious lung disease, with 70 percent of those having used the company’s products. The total number of injured victims reaches 1,528.
The statement comes three days after local supermarkets Lotte Mart and Homeplus offered an apology for their involvement in distributing the harmful disinfectants here. It is Oxy’s first press statement on the issue released in the five years since the case was first brought to light.
The Korean government confirmed in 2011 that it had found a significant association between the disease and the use of humidifier disinfectant.
Earlier in the day, an official, who was in charge of customer service for the British firm, appeared at the prosecutors’ office for questioning. Prosecutors reportedly asked the official why some posts to the company’s website left by customers complaining about the products’ side effects were removed.
The prosecutors and a team of 20 experts in medicine and pharmacy science have also reportedly confirmed the correlation, which they said will be presented as evidence in the upcoming trials. They are also studying whether the disinfectants could have caused damage to other organs aside from lungs.
The prosecution suspects Reckitt Benckiser of bribing a professor at Hoseo University to fabricate research papers in favor of the company. The firm has cited the papers to claim that its products had not resulted in the deaths of pregnant women and infants.
The prosecution expanded the probe into whether the British headquarters had approved the sales of the toxic products here. The British company has denied its involvement, saying it had been entirely the Korean subsidiary’s decision.
While the firm has maintained that it had not been aware of its products’ toxicity, the company allegedly contacted a number of victims to offer compensation in return for them not filing a lawsuit as the investigation picked up pace.
Prosecutors also said Thursday that during questioning last November they secured testimonies from company officials involved in research that they were aware of the harmfulness of the substance, but that they skipped safety tests.
According to prosecutors, Reckitt Benckiser also allegedly deleted a number of materials and safety data sheets about PHMG, which is responsible for severe illnesses and deaths, from its computers.
South Korea's government has pledged more support to people who suffered lung damage after exposure to toxins from sterilizers used in humidifiers.
Vice environment minister Jeong Yeon-man told reporters on Friday that starting in July, the government will subsidize living expenses and offer support to family members caring for the victims. The government already covers medical costs.
Jeong promised to launch a new inquiry into how the sterilizers affect human health, and to increase from one to 9 the number of designated hospitals that can certify victims. Jeong said the government will do its best to ease the victims' suffering.
The government says 95 people have died after inhaling toxins released by the sterilizers, which were sold between 2001 and 2011. Many more women and infants suffered lung damage.
On Tuesday, prosecutors filed charges against 4 people, including 2 former heads of companies that made and sold the products. But the government faces increased criticism that its delayed response caused the damage to spread.
Korea offers extra aid for humidifier disinfectant victims
Meanwhile, the prosecution carried on with its probe on the distributors and sellers of the harmful humidifier disinfectants.
On Friday, the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office summoned the former CEOs of Lotte Mart and of Homeplus for questioning, mainly on whether they had conducted safety test on their disputed products. Humidifier disinfectants containing PHMG were on sale at the two wholesale stores in 2004 and 2006 respectively, allegedly causing more than 41 and 28 deaths each.
Since the toxicity of the disinfectant was first reported back in 2011, South Korea has confirmed 221 victims, of which 177 had used Oxy products, produced by Oxy Reckitt Benckiser.
[Newsmaker] Reckitt Benckiser apologizes, offers funds
Amid the prosecution’s widening probe into Oxy Reckitt Benckiser Korea and other companies related to their toxic humidifier disinfectants, the British firm apologized on Thursday to victims and unveiled a plan to offer an additional 5 billion won ($4.4 million) in humanitarian assistance.
So far, the humidifier disinfectants have been blamed for claiming 228 lives in Korea for a harmful substance they contained that caused serious lung disease, with 70 percent of those having used the company’s products. The total number of injured victims reaches 1,528.
The statement comes three days after local supermarkets Lotte Mart and Homeplus offered an apology for their involvement in distributing the harmful disinfectants here. It is Oxy’s first press statement on the issue released in the five years since the case was first brought to light.
The Korean government confirmed in 2011 that it had found a significant association between the disease and the use of humidifier disinfectant.
Earlier in the day, an official, who was in charge of customer service for the British firm, appeared at the prosecutors’ office for questioning. Prosecutors reportedly asked the official why some posts to the company’s website left by customers complaining about the products’ side effects were removed.
The prosecutors and a team of 20 experts in medicine and pharmacy science have also reportedly confirmed the correlation, which they said will be presented as evidence in the upcoming trials. They are also studying whether the disinfectants could have caused damage to other organs aside from lungs.
The prosecution suspects Reckitt Benckiser of bribing a professor at Hoseo University to fabricate research papers in favor of the company. The firm has cited the papers to claim that its products had not resulted in the deaths of pregnant women and infants.
The prosecution expanded the probe into whether the British headquarters had approved the sales of the toxic products here. The British company has denied its involvement, saying it had been entirely the Korean subsidiary’s decision.
While the firm has maintained that it had not been aware of its products’ toxicity, the company allegedly contacted a number of victims to offer compensation in return for them not filing a lawsuit as the investigation picked up pace.
Prosecutors also said Thursday that during questioning last November they secured testimonies from company officials involved in research that they were aware of the harmfulness of the substance, but that they skipped safety tests.
According to prosecutors, Reckitt Benckiser also allegedly deleted a number of materials and safety data sheets about PHMG, which is responsible for severe illnesses and deaths, from its computers.
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