April 19, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] SK Chemical and two other firms were fined for providing insufficient and misleading information on its humidifier sterilizer products, the corporate watchdog said on Feb. 12.

The Fair Trade Commission said it has decided to levy a total of 134 million won (US$124,000) in fines on SK Chemical, Aekyung Industrial and E-mart for manufacturing and selling humidifier sterilizer without informing consumers of possible health hazards.

In December of last year, the FTC reopened its probe into local humidifier sterilizer firms as its task force found some procedural loopholes in a previous investigation regarding their failure to inform consumers of possible health hazards.

The FTC had earlier closed its inspection of two local humidifier sterilizer manufacturers, citing a lack of evidence, amid a ballooning toxic disinfectant scandal that resulted in numerous deaths and illnesses here.

SK Chemical allegedly manufactured and sold humidifier cleansers using the chemicals chloro-methylisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone between 2002 and 2013.

The FTC had accused the firm of not indicating the health risks of such chemicals on their products as the humidifier disinfectant case, one of the worst scandals involving a consumer product using poisonous chemicals, made headlines in Korea.

By Seong Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)