<Photo: Yonhap News>
The Ministry of Environment said it will proclaim a revision to current law on Tuesday regulating humidifier sterilizers that will expand the scope of disease caused by the use of the chemical products.
With the move, the revision to the Special Act on Remedy for Damage Caused by Humidifier Disinfectants will come into force in six months.
Under the revised law, people who become sick with asthma, pneumonia, bronchiectasis and interstitial lung disease after being exposed to humidifier disinfectants will be put in a more advantageous position in their damage suits against manufacturers.
Humidifier sanitizer makers will be legally bound to prove the absence of correlation between exposure to their products and various diseases.
The new law also calls on the government to offer help to those who suffer from diseases rarely associated with exposure to humidifier disinfectants if they are recognized as victims by a state-run screening committee.
This comes some nine years after South Korea's humidifier sterilizer scandal was exposed by the deaths of four pregnant women who suffered unknown lung problems.
Toxic disinfectant products sold in the country have reportedly caused the deaths of over 1,500 consumers.■
Please send comments to tbsefmnews@gmail.com / copyright © tbs. Unauthorized redistribution prohibited.
