Fatal Product

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In our next story, there is a growing body of evidence that the British cleaning product manufacturer Oxy Reckitt Benckiser attempted to cover up problems caused by its humidifier disinfectant. Here is the story.

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The packaging for Oxy's humidifier disinfectant was changed in 2006. A special cap limiting the one-time usage to ten milliliters was removed from the new packaging. So there is no safety device that can prevent the overuse of the product.

[Soundbite] Im Heung-kyu(Official, ACCEH) : "Victims say they just poured the disinfectant in. The amount could be three to five times more than the recommended level of ten milliliters."

Starting in 2006 when the packaging changed, the number of victims dying from the humidifier disinfectant surged from three to 83. There is more evidence that the British company attempted to cover up the situation. A toxicologist at the British headquarters sent an email to Oxy Korea employees in 2012, a year after the Korean government announced that a substance contained in the disinfectant called "PHMG" causes lung disease. The toxicologist ordered Oxy Korea staffto delete his name from a report on the company's own test to confirm the safety of the substance for outside submission. The deletion makes it impossible to identify whether the British headquarters or the Korean branch conducted the test.

[Soundbite] Woo Won-sik(Rep. Special Parliamentary Committee Investigating Toxic Humidifier Sterilizer Case) : "The order to cut out the bottom of a report written by an official at the headquarters was aimed at hiding the name as part of the company's scheme tocover up the truth."

Oxy Korea has declined to comment on this issue, saying that a prosecurotiral investigation is under way.