The other day, our newsroom highlighted the dangerous use of quaternary ammonium, which is dangerous to breathe in and should never be sprayed on people, as an approved COVID-19 disinfectant. As it turns out, the ingredient in question has long been used to disinfect subways and is still being used today.
First up, PD Choi Kwang-il.
[Reporter]
Seoul Subway Line 5, March last year.
A sprayer is used to spray disinfectant all over the seats.
The disinfectant contains “quaternary ammonium,” which can cause lung damage if it gets into a person’s nose or mouth.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is a toxic substance that should not be sprayed on humans under any circumstances, and internal tests at the National Institute of Environmental Science have killed rats that inhaled it.
Disinfection workers have been working in these closed trains for years, disinfecting for more than six hours a day.
They were given ordinary masks to block droplets.
[Lee Deok-hwan, Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemistry, Sogang University: They should be wearing gas masks. It’s ridiculous to put a mask on them and say this is protection]메이저사이트.
In May last year, Seoul Metro’s Green Environment Division, which is in charge of disinfection, commissioned a study to prevent possible damage to workers.
The study conducted by the Seoul Toxicology Center and others concluded that spray disinfection should be abandoned.
However, the company continues to use ‘sprinkling disinfection’.
[Park Jong-won/Contractor Representative: But nothing has changed. {It’s been a year since then, hasn’t it?]
The company declined to comment, saying they were not familiar with the situation.
The company employs about 1600 workers.