Humidifier disinfectants, unfinished stories

Article information

Environ Health Toxicol. 2016;31.e2016004

Publication date (electronic) : 2016 February 28

doi : https://doi.org/10.5620/eht.e2016004

Yeyong Choi¹, Domyung Paek^,2

¹Asian Citizen’s Center for Environment and Health, Seoul, Korea

²Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence: Domyung Paek, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Korea Tel: +82-2-880-2733 Fax: +82-2-743-8240 Email: paekdm@snu.ac.kr

Received 2016 January 17; Accepted 2016 January 26.

Humidifier disinfectant was added to the humidifier water tank to keep the water sterile. As microbial growth was contained by chemicals, however, the aerosolized water droplets became contaminated with chemicals instead. With the evaporation of tiny water droplets, the fine particulates of chemicals entered into the deeper parts of the lung [1]. The result was chemical bronchoalveolitis in place of microbial infections [2].

However, people did not suspect that products marketed under the slogan of hygiene could result in unhygienic conditions, and blamed themselves for the unexpected tragedies. Some people lost their most beloved ones, including mothers, wives, babies, and grandchildren, and some families were broken by the burden of the tragedy. As humans can only explain their lives with stories they have been told, the victims and their families had to make up their stories around allergies, genes, cleaning habits, and all sorts of misfortunes that came to mind. However, none of the stories could explain their misfortunes that lay beyond their individual control.

Two of the most toxic humidifier disinfectants, polyhexamethylene guanide phosphate (PHMG) and poly(oxyalkylene guanidine) hydrochloride (PGH), were macromolecules that had not been tested for their complete toxicities. The toxicity testing of these macromolecules had become exempt in the process of government de-regulation campaigns, and the products were marketed as safe materials [3]. Business should be legally bound to advertise the toxicity exemptions as a safety certificate, but the failure to do this could not be committed without the failure of the government in deregulating materials that should have been regulated. However, the stories have yet to be told about who is responsible for these misfortunes, as no legal entities appear in the current stories. Deregulation, toxicity testing, and advertising do not happen spontaneously, but nobody or no legal person is yet responsible for these decisions.

In a recent survey of humidifier disinfectant use among the general population, 22% of respondents had used disinfectants and 21% of these users had experienced adverse effects, leading to an estimate of at least two million potential victims [4]. The current estimate is similar to a previous estimate of 18% usage rate found in a small sample survey [5]. The most troubling finding, though, is the rate of 21% who experienced adverse effects. As the peak exposure to the chemicals rather than the chronicity of exposures was found to be most important in reaching the threshold for the occurrence of humidifier disinfectant lung injuries, many of those with adverse effects could have just experienced transient reversible symptoms [6].

However, the magnitude of two million potential victims with adverse effects from humidifier disinfectants suggests that we should examine the entire airways rather than just focus on the terminal parts of the bronchioles to assess the effects of fine particulates of chemicals. This is especially true for the effects on the upper airways, such as asthma and sinusitis, as these macromolecules were shown to exert their biocidal effects by irritating microbial cell membranes [7]. There are ample evidences of irritation from these chemicals and also from 5-chloro-2-methyl- 3(2H)-isothiazolone and 2-methyl-3(2H)-isothiazolone [8], and we should focus on how these manmade chemicals could sustain inflammatory responses in human mucosal linings of the upper airways in the coming rounds of humidifier disinfectant victim surveys.

Other potential, but yet to be verified, effects are the systemic effects of these ultra-fine particulates of chemicals. We know that nano-sized particles can migrate into the brain through the nose and also into systemic circulations through the lungs, but do not understand their systemic effects sufficiently. In this respect, a report on the unexpected cardiovascular effects of PHMG and PGH on fish [9] prompts us to examine the inflammatory potential of these chemicals on cell membranes of the brain in senile dementia, of the pancreas of diabetics, and the hearts of hypertensive patients.

With renewed attention directed to previous episodes of other macromolecule induced lung diseases such as Ardystil syndrome [10], we need to examine in a systematic way other similar sources that might have been overlooked. The story of humidifier disinfectants is not finished yet, even though many people believe humidifier disinfectant to be an episode in the past.