Humidifier Disinfectant Consumption and Humidifier Disinfectant-Associated Lung Injury in South Korea: A Nationwide Population-Based Study

Humidifier disinfectant (HD) is a household biocidal product used in humidifier water tanks to prevent the growth of microorganisms. In 2011, a series of lung injury cases of unknown causes emerged in children and pregnant women who had used HD in Korea. This study investigated changes in the nationwide number of cases of humidifier disinfectant-associated lung injury (HDLI) in concordance with nationwide HD consumption using data covering the entire Korean population. More than 25 kinds of HD products were sold between 1994 and 2011. The number of diagnosed HDLI, assessed by S27.3 (other injuries of lungs) of the Korea National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) data, sharply increased by 2005, subsequently decreased after 2005, and almost disappeared after 2011 in concordance with the annual number of HD sales. The number of self-reported HDLIs, assessed using data from all suspected HDLI cases registered in the Korea Ministry of Environment, changed with the annual number of HD sales, with a delay pattern, potentially induced by the late awareness of lung injury diseases. The present study suggests that changes in the nationwide annual consumption of HD products were consistent with changes in the annual number of HDLI cases in Korea.

Dynamics of morphological and biochemical parameters in the blood of white mice under the action of the drug “Vitosept”

The paper presents the results of the study of the drug toxicity “Vitosept” in its preclinical studies in intact white mice. It was found that according to the assessment of toxicological parameters of the studied biocidal product is low-toxic. Oral administration of even its highest concentrations (500 mg/l) did not show a pronounced toxic effect. During the action of the drug for 20 days no deviations in the clinical condition, behavioral reactions, reflex activity did not occur. It was found that most of the values that characterize the functional state of the hematopoietic and hepatobiliary systems, against the background of different concentrations of sodium hypochlorite, did not undergo significant changes compared with the control. The hemoglobin content in the blood of white mice in the experimental groups increased compared with the control in the first three experimental groups (concentration of GHN 100–300 mg/l). With increasing concentration of the drug, when administered intraperitoneally, there was a greater number of leukocytes in the blood of laboratory animals. At the same time, a probable increase in this indicator was found only in mice of the II experimental group when administered orally to animals of the lowest test concentration (100 mg/l). The concentration of total protein, urea and glucose in the blood of white mice under the action of “Vitosept” was similar in animals of the control and experimental groups. The revealed tendency to increase the activity of certain enzymes (LF, ALT, AST) was short-lived, and is obviously a compensatory response of animals to the xenobiotic effect of the drug. On the 20th day of the experiment, the studied white mice of the experimental groups were close to those in the control group.

AN OVERVIEW ON CURRENT REGULATION AND EVALUATION OF BIOCIDAL PRODUCTS

A biocidal product is a substance or mixture prepared to limit, destroy, neutralize or control the effects of a harmful microorganism, plants and animals. The active substance in a biocidal product can be a natural oil or extract, a chemical substance or a microorganism, virus or fungus. Biocides consist of four main groups: disinfectants, preservatives (wood, paint, etc.), pest control and other type of biocidal products. A biocidal substance can also be added to a product to make the product itself into a biocidal product. These products range from disinfectants, hand sanitizers, preservatives, insect repellents, to rodenticides and insecticides and are used to protect humans, animals, materials and articles by controlling the intended target organism by a chemical or biological action. To make sure the use of biocidal products do not have unacceptable risks for people, animals and the environment, they are regulated to control their marketing, sale and use. In the current study biocidal products have been overviewed in the scope of current European Union regulations, product types and conformity tests. Peer Review History: UJPR follows the most transparent and toughest ‘Advanced OPEN peer review’ system. The identity of the authors and, reviewers will be known to each other. This transparent process will help to eradicate any possible malicious/purposeful interference by any person (publishing staff, reviewer, editor, author, etc) during peer review. As a result of this unique system, all reviewers will get their due recognition and respect, once their names are published in the papers. We expect that, by publishing peer review reports with published papers, will be helpful to many authors for drafting their article according to the specifications. Auhors will remove any error of their article and they will improve their article(s) according to the previous reports displayed with published article(s). The main purpose of it is ‘to improve the quality of a candidate manuscript’. Our reviewers check the ‘strength and weakness of a manuscript honestly’. There will increase in the perfection, and transparency. Received file Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 5.0/10 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 7.0/10 Reviewer(s) detail: Name: Dr. Barkat Ali Khan Affiliation: Kampala International University , Uganda E-mail: [email protected] Name: Dr. Sally A. El-Zahaby Affiliation: Pharos University in Alexandria, Egypt E-mail: [email protected] Comments of reviewer(s):

Endocrine Disrupting Chemical Wars: the Saga Continues: The Court Found the Commission in Failure to Act (and May Need to Strike Back Later)

Case T-521/14, Kingdom of Sweden v European Commission, Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber) of 16 December 2015, ECLI:EU:T:2015:976Case T-521/14 is a new stop on the perilous journey towards the appropriate regulation of endocrine disrupting chemicals. The Biocidal Product Regulation required the Commission to adopt criteria defining endocrine disrupting properties by 13 December 2013; the deadline was not respected. Even though the failure to act was obvious, the Court's reasoning in T-521/14 matters greatly. It exposes a structural weakness in the EU's risk governance system by reminding the Commission that strong private opposition to regulatory action does not justify tampering with the level of environmental or health protection set by the legislator. The now adopted criteria indicate that this lesson was not taken to heart.