The humidifier disinfectant case and the legislative challenges of the 20th Congress
نویسنده
چکیده
A number of absurdities surrounding the humidifier disinfectant (HD) incident may have occurred because 1) a judicial system operates on the underlying false assumption that the involved parties are equals in knowledge, information and resource mobilization capabilities, regardless of respective real status as company or individual; 2) there is a lack of a system that mandates a company to prevent and actively manage possible catastrophes; 3) the regulatory scheme makes companies believe that as long as they are complying with the existing regulations, they have satisfied all of their responsibilities. I believe that this issue is an opportunity to bring about changes in the judicial redress system, the system of internal management of manufacturers, and the regulatory system of the government. The following regulation amendments are needed to move towards the changes stated above. First, legislation relating to victim relief that is applicable to the HD incident must be established. Second, a risk management system must be formed within the manufacturing company and to this end an institutional environment for the system must be established within regulatory framework. Furthermore, legislation must be passed that could punish companies themselves that have caused severe damage to individuals because they had failed to take necessary actions to avoid foreseeable harm. Finally, the framework of regulation must be changed so that the company, who has the necessary information regarding the product and the component chemicals used in the product, must self-directed experiment and assessment of the safety of their own products.
منابع مشابه
Estimating retrospective exposure of household humidifier disinfectants.
UNLABELLED We conducted a comprehensive humidifier disinfectant exposure characterization for 374 subjects with lung disease who presumed their disease was related to humidifier disinfectant use (patient group) and for 303 of their family members (family group) for an ongoing epidemiological study. We visited the homes of the registered patients to investigate disinfectant use characteristics. ...
متن کاملFrequency of Humidifier and Humidifier Disinfectant Usage in Gyeonggi Provine
OBJECTIVES This study is a cross-sectional study to investigate the frequency of humidifier and humidifier disinfectant usage in the general population. METHODS A questionnaire was applied to 94 subjects (46 male, 48 female) from the general population of Gyeonggi Province. The questionnaire consisted of 3 scales (general characteristics, 5 items about humidifier usage, 5 items about humidifi...
متن کاملRelationship between Exposure to Household Humidifier Disinfectants and Risk of Lung Injury: A Family-Based Study
BACKGROUND In South Korea, a cluster of acute lung disease patients included lung injury disease suspected of being caused by the use of humidifier disinfectants. We examined the relationship between humidifier disinfectant exposure and clinically diagnosed humidifier disinfectant-associated lung injury (HDLI) in a family-based study. METHODS This case-control study included 169 clinically co...
متن کاملExposure characteristics of familial cases of lung injury associated with the use of humidifier disinfectants
BACKGROUND This study describes 17 families with 38 lung injury patients (14 males, 24 females; 22 preschool-age children less than six years of age and 16 individuals of 13-50 years) who used disinfectant added to humidifiers in the home. METHODS Clinical examination and humidifier disinfectant-use histories were taken, and a thorough home investigation was performed to assess exposure to hu...
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عنوان ژورنال:
دوره 31 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2016