Last 2011, the government announced PHMG, PGH, CMIT, and MIT to be the primary causes of lung ailments in patients who used sterilizers. However, because of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s patchwork regulatory system, everyday products containing those sterilizers were kept on store shelves. Eventually, in 2016, 5 years after its initial announcement, the government has established proper regulations and is investigating the detection of hazardous chemicals in everyday products on a daily basis. Consumers are worried. The government and manufacturers need an overhaul to prevent further consumer casualties. Companies must be strictly regulated so that its products’ components are not withheld by reason of confidentiality. They must be forced to provide a list of all ingredients on the label. Also, they should be required to place more emphasize on replacing products containing harmful materials with products that do not harm humans and the environment in any way. At the government level, authorities must place the public above hazardous materials. Known harmful materials must be banned and removed while the discoveryof possible and more less-known materials further investigated and re-evaluated. However, according to Kwon Mihyeok, member of the Democratic Party of Korea, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is going to have its 2017 budget cut by about 43 billion won.1) How this budget cut will affect the government’s responsibility to ensure public health remains to be seen.
1) Jeong Yunhyeong, “Can we escape death if Chemical Substances remain in our daily essentials?”, SISAPRESS, October 27, 2016
