The reason why K-REACH is enacted

I am poor at Englsih but for information and studying English for myself, I am trying to do my best to translate in Englsih.

K-REACH (The Act on Registration and Evaluation of Chemical Substances) was proposed in 2013 and implemented in 2015. Substances importing or manufacturing 1000T and CMR materials must be registered within this year!

What is the Act on the Registration and Evaluation of Chemical Substances? What the hell is that? I'm sure there are a lot of people who have headache on this matter. Simply put, do you want to import/manufacture chemicals in Korea? Then register that substance! That's right. What's the registration? I talked to myself before I work on K-REACH job.. Is it just to enter the CAS number and submit it? How easy it is! But it turns out much more complicated than my expectation. Now, I think I got a sense of what the K-REACH is while working. However, I totally misunderstood the grace period to register. Haha. Anyway, I would like to explain K-REACH in simple words.

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First of all, let's find out why the Act on the Registration and Evaluation was proposed. We need to know the reason why we should do K-REACH stuff before using chemical substances.

Have you heard of the humidifier disinfectant incident in KR?

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This is the structural formula of PHMG in humidifier disinfectants. Well, I have no idea what the hell this structure is meaning. In any case, the humidifier disinfectant case is an incident in which the substance was inhaled into the lungs and harmed dozen of people's health and caused many sacrifices.

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But what's funny is that PHMG was registered as a non-toxic substance under the Act on the Management of Hazardous Chemical Substances before K-REACH, and was already used as a disinfectant in other countries. U.S. FDA has already registered as a disinfectant. Having FDA certification in the United States means that there is no problem using it as a disinfectant.

PGH is also known as a substance that is safe relatively to other substances. It has no serious effect on the eyes or skin. But why did these substances made serious results?

We should think about not only how hazard it is but also how can be effect on us.​

Can you think of 100% pure HCl? It sounds dangerous just by listening to it. Inhailing hydrochloric acid gas just by being nearby will cause dehydration and damage our lung.

But what if HCl above is sealed and put in a packaging containal and it is locked? Does it look dangerous too? We should also consider the degree of exposure (exposed path, frequency, time, etc.).

PHMG and PGH has serious impacts when inhaled. Until it was used as a humidifier disinfectant, there was no toxic study data about inhalation. After this accident, toxicity was evaluated with a inhalation route, and the results of a lung disease study were reported when the substance was used or inhaled in the mid - long term.

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From the point of this unfortunate incident, KR learned that we should focus on how it can impact on us other than substance's own toxicity itself. It is necessary to understand what this chemical substance is used for. Therefore, the  K-REACH was newly established that all chemicals must be registered before manufacturing/importing. The K-REACH requires us to investigates the use of chemical substances and evaluates exposure based on the investigation. And it has no choice but to be used for registered purpose of the substances. We have looked at the background of the proposed K-REACH together. It's nice to study for me. Haha