[사회]’Humidifier disinfectant’ SK Chemicals and Aekyung Industrial are not guilty… “Unlike Oxy, no harm is proven”

[앵커]

After Oxy, all officials of the company that manufactured and sold’Humidifier Mate’, the second most reported victim of humidifier disinfectant, were acquitted at the first trial.

The judiciary determined that the harmfulness of the ingredients of the product was not sufficiently proven differently from the ingredients of the oxy product.

Reporter Na Hye-in reports.

[기자]

Aekyung Industrial Co., Ltd. Ahn Yong-chan, former CEO of Aekyung Industries, who manufactured and sold the humidifier disinfectant’Humidifier Mate’, enters the court to receive a first trial sentence.

Hong Ji-ho, former CEO of SK Chemicals, and all employees of E-Mart, were charged with selling products without properly verifying the safety of their products, resulting in human damage.

‘Humidifier Mate’ is the second product after Oxy, which reported damage to 800 people.

The controversy began in 2011, but the trial was only started in 2019 after a re-investigation over the issue of proving harmfulness.

However, the judgment of the first trial court was completely different from the case of Oxy Products, which was confirmed for up to six years in prison for similar charges.

Even if all the studies conducted so far were put together, he was found not guilty because there was insufficient evidence to suggest that the ingredients of the product’Humidifier Mate’ caused or worsened lung disease or asthma.

CMIT and MIT, the raw materials for the product’Humidifier Mate’, are different ingredients from PHMG, the raw material for oxy humidifier disinfectant.

The court explained that although the government widely recognized the standards for recognizing health damage in order to rescue victims, it was difficult to recognize causal relations by applying them to criminal cases that require strict certification.

The 2018 Ministry of Environment’s Comprehensive Report, which was a clue to the re-investigation, was also evaluated as an opinion added by experts’ estimates to existing studies that failed to prove harmfulness.

He added that although I do not know what kind of evaluation will be made historically when further research results come out, the court has no choice but to judge based on the evidence so far.

[홍지호 / SK케미칼 前 대표 : (피해자들에게 하고 싶은 말 없습니까?) ….]

The victims of humidifier disinfectant strongly opposed the ruling, saying it was unconvincing.

[조순미 / 가습기 살균제 피해자 : 내 몸에서 일어나는 일이, 그것이 다 증거인데, 그 증거조차 인정하지 못하는 사법부나 가해 기업, 정부 다 받아들이지 못하고 용서할 수 없습니다.]

The court sentenced four former SK Chemicals employees who provided PHMG, a humidifier disinfectant raw material to Oxy et al., saying that it is difficult to hold essential responsibility for them.

The prosecution overlooked the difference between animal testing and human damage, and criticized the sentence for giving indulgences to corporate managers who neglected safety measures while neglecting safety measures while neglecting expert screening results.

Subsequently, it was announced that it would appeal to both manufacturers, sellers and raw material suppliers so that they could hold legal responsibility for damages.

This is Hyein Na, YTN.

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