Oxy sold a humidifier disinfectant in Korea for a decade — 1,250 people died

From 2001, Oxy Reckitt Benckiser Korea sold its humidifier disinfectant Oxy Ssak Ssak (옥시싹싹), containing polyhexamethylene guanidine phosphate, or PHMG. The product was added to the water tanks of ultrasonic humidifiers and dispersed into the air as a fine mist that users inhaled. Millions of Korean households used similar disinfectants during dry winters.

In 2011, a cluster of severe and unexplained lung injuries, especially among pregnant women and children, led the Korean government to investigate. Researchers traced the damage to PHMG and related chemicals in humidifier disinfectants. The products were banned, but only after years of exposure.

By 2024, the South Korean government had recognised roughly 5,700 victims, including more than 1,250 deaths. Oxy's product carried 221 confirmed deaths and 300 confirmed injuries — the largest toll of any brand. Courts convicted former Oxy executives of professional negligence. Reckitt Benckiser apologised in 2016 and set aside more than £1 billion for legal costs and compensation. The national Social Disasters Commission estimated that roughly 20,000 people died from PHMG alone between 1994 and 2011. The case became the largest known consumer-product health disaster in Korean history.