Humidifier Disinfectants (HDs) were sold as a product that can sterilize a humidifier by dissolving it in water when using a humidifier. However, serious health damage caused by HDs was confirmed in 2011, and victims and their families are still suffering. This presentation aims to introduce the initial perception history part of ‘the 2014 Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KDCA)'s White Paper on Humidifier Disinfectants health damage’ to the 10th Young Scholar Forum for Medical and Environmental History in East Asia (from March 17 to 19 in 2023) and discuss lessons. In April 2011, Seoul Asan Hospital requested the KDCA to conduct an epidemiological investigation on lung disease of unknown cause, and at the same time, doctors of Korea's Big 4 hospitals (Yonsei University Severance Hospital, Seoul Asan Hospital, Samsung Hospital, Seoul National University Hospital) tried to find the cause of the disease through the conference. As a result, similarities with cases reported in the academia since 2006 were found, and the clinical characteristics of the disease could be specifically defined. In August 2011, the result of epidemiological investigation confirmed the association between HDs and this lung disease, and in November 2011, it was finally revealed in animal experiments that exposure to the HDs was the cause of this lung disease. In the process of uncovering the dangers of HDs, the medical academic community's steady case reports and doctors' quick collection of opinions played a positive role. However, the fundamental limitations of the study of epidemiology, in which causality can be confirmed only when sufficient cases are gathered, revealed limitations. Also, the absence of an expert-centered control tower within government departments and deferred responsibilities among government departments, had become triggers for health damage of HDs.
Keywords: the humidifier disinfectants, lung damage, initial perception, the 2014 KDCA White Paper
