From
Send to

Oxy manufacturer rebuffed after offering deal with sterilizer victims

June 19, 2016 - 09:08 By 임정요
Oxy Reckitt Benckiser on Saturday offered a compensation deal with the likeliest victims of its toxic humidifier disinfectant, although the victims have denounced the company as failing to consider their varying situations.

Oxy CEO Ata Safdar held an information session with some hundred class 1 and 2 victims behind closed doors at a hotel in southern Seoul, apologizing once again over the sterilizer products that have proven to be fatal.

Safdar said the company will create an ad hoc team of about 35 people to communicate with each and every victim and wrap up their compensation by the end of this year.

The humidifier disinfectant case, one of South Korea's worst scandals involving consumer products, came to light after four pregnant women died of lung problems for unknown reason in 2011. A government-led investigation confirmed a connection between more than a hundred people who died of lung problems and the chemicals used to clean household humidifiers.

The victims have been classified into four levels depending on the likelihood of their diseases or deaths being caused by the disinfectants, with class 1 denoting the highest relevance.

The compensation will include treatment costs, tallied retroactively from the date when treatments started, funeral fees and lost income from not being able to work due conditions caused by the sterilizers, Safdar said.

If the victims have already been reimbursed by the government, Oxy will direct the compensation to the related government agencies.

More specifically, Oxy will pay 150 million won each to the bereaved families and those considered to have been "definitely" harmed by the chemicals, and 100 million won each to the rest.

Victims, however, lashed out at what they considered to be "sweeping generalization" Oxy made about their conditions.

"My two children, husband and I are all class 1-3 victims," one of them said, asking not to be named. "I have so many questions, including what the company would do if an entire family has been affected."

A woman who says she has not been able to look after her children because of her disease chimed in.

"What would Oxy do for my children while I'm dying?" she said.

In response, Safdar reaffirmed Oxy's commitment to reflect victim's feedback in its compensation plan.

"We will try to come up with the ultimate compensation plan victims can accept by July," he said. (Yonhap)