CINCINNATI -- Multinational consumer goods company Procter & Gamble said its fabric refresher Febreze is scientifically safe for use, amid growing public concern in Korea over its possible toxicity.

P&G headquarters said that the ingredients of Febreze are strictly controlled and within the safety range so it is not toxic when inhaled.

“All ingredients used in Febreze products have been thoroughly assessed to be safe for consumers under intended product use conditions. The inhalation safety assessment also confirmed that DDAC and BIT can be safely used in Febreze products based on available inhalation safety data,” Human safety toxicologist Soga Kwon from the P&G Global Product Stewardship said in a press conference at the P&G Innovation Technical Center in Cincinnati, U.S. last week.

“We design Febreze products to ensure that there is little to no DDAC/BIT entering the lungs by controlling the particle sizes of aerosols generated by Febreze products. Particle sizes generated by Febreze products are so large that a consumer cannot deeply inhale them.”

The global company’s two-day press conference was held only for Korean media as there have been growing public concerns in the country over the possible toxicity of its product’s ingredients, especially over the substances DDAC and BIT, following the humidifier disinfectant tragedy that left more than 200 dead and hundreds suffering health damages in Seoul. 

The Korean prosecutorial probe into the disinfectant tragedy has been underway since January.

Febreze contains 0.01 percent of BIT as a preservative and 0.139 percent of DDAC as an antibacterial active ingredient.

Some local experts have claimed that accumulation of those substances in the body can be fatal, which led to consumers becoming worried about all chemical products, especially Febreze, which is widely used in Korea.

As public fear escalated, the Environment Ministry launched a probe into Febreze ingredients in May and released its preliminary probe result that the amount of DDAC and BIT used in Febreze is within the safety limits. The ministry is conducting the second round of its probe into the product’s possible toxicity, with the results soon to be released.

P&G emphasized that the two ingredients cannot be accumulated in the body as their particles’ sizes are too large to enter the lungs.

“It is nearly impossible for Febreze ingredients to reach the lungs as the particles are designed to be around 85 to 120 microns. The particles immediately fall to the ground due to their weight. (The company) has deliberately designed (them) as large for safety purpose,” said Jane Rose, the human safety toxicologist for central product safety.

To be inhaled, the size of the spray particle must be less than 10 microns, she added.

P&G also stressed that both ingredients are also well within the safe range.
Under the extreme product use conditions, the level of DDAC in Febreze stands at 0.032 micrograms per cubic meter, which is 447 times lower than the safety limit for DDAC set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In order to go over the DDAC’s safety limit, a user would have to spray Febreze 1,300 times within one minute, the company said.

The safety assessment also showed no particles of DDAC and BIT were detected in the air after one minute of use as the nonvolatile ingredients all fell to the ground, it added.

According to the company’s survey, Korean customers use Febreze five times a day on average, with heavy users spraying the product at most 11 times a day. One Febreze bottle contains 370 milligrams of the product and it can be sprayed about 400 times.

John Caldwell, an emeritus professor of toxicology at the University of Liverpool, who has undertaken an independent review of the risk assessment of Febreze products, also confirmed that Febreze raises no inhalation safety concerns. Caldwell has advised on various safety topics for the U.K. and EU authorities, U.S. Food and Drug Administration and World Health Organization.

P&G said it would continue to make the safety of consumers its top priority.

The global company runs research and development centers, consisting of 7,500 employees, including 1,000 of them with Ph.D. degrees across 120 scientific disciplines. Nearly 700 experts, which is nearly 10 percent of the total number of R&D employees, ensure the safety of household goods at the Ivorydale Technical Center in Cincinnati.

“For 178 years, ensuring the safety of people who use our products and the safety of the world we all live in, has been at the heart of what we do,” said P&G chief brand officer Marc Pritchard.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)