What Happens to Our Body When Breathing in Toxic Substances from Humidifier Disinfectants?

KOSHA Publishes 260 Cases of Human Harmful Chemical Substance Inhalation Results
OSHRI Summarizes Inhalation and Genetic Toxicity Test Results for Easy Understanding

You can check the test results on the effects of inhaling toxic substances on the human body on the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency website.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] How do the toxic substances in humidifier disinfectants affect our bodies?

Test results on chemical substances whose toxic substances affect the human body through the respiratory system are provided as easy-to-understand information.

The Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency Industrial Safety and Health Research Institute (Director Ko Jae-cheol) summarized and disclosed 260 cases of inhalation toxicity tests and genetic toxicity tests.

The "inhalation toxicity test" is a test that mainly targets chemical substances used in industrial sites to confirm toxicity caused by respiratory exposure.

The "genetic toxicity test" is a test to confirm whether chemical substances cause damage to DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) or chromosomes, resulting in morphological changes or functional abnormalities.

The test results disclosed this time are the results performed by the research institute for over 30 years since 1992, which could only be confirmed through research reports, papers, or Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) until now.

This time, the research institute summarized and disclosed the toxicity test results by test method on one page with essential information such as "Test Substance and Basic Information," "Test Method," "Results," and "Conclusion," so that anyone can easily check them.

Among the test results, health hazard information caused by inhalation exposure is also provided for toxic substances in humidifier disinfectants such as PHMG·HCl (polyhexamethylene guanidine hydrochloride), Benzalkonium chloride (alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride), and DDAC (Didecyldimethylammonium chloride).

The disclosed data include 104 cases of inhalation toxicity test results and 156 cases of genetic toxicity test results, which can be found on the research institute's website.

Ko Jae-cheol, director of the Industrial Safety and Health Research Institute, said, "We expect that organizing and disclosing harmful information of chemical substances in an easy-to-understand way will help research institutions and companies related to toxicity and chemical substances use it as basic research data."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.