Kim Ock-Joo, Park Se Hong
Dept. of the History of Medicine and Medical Humanities, College of Medicine Seoul National University, Seoul, KOREA.
Uisahak. 2012 Aug 31;21(2):279-344.
This paper deals with social history of carbon monoxide poisoning in Korea in 1960s. From the mid 1950s, Korean society began to use coal briquettes (Yeontan) for fuel for cooking and heating in the winter, especially in urban area. As the use of coal briquettes replaced fire woods which had been used as fuel in traditional Korean society for centuries, incidence and deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning increased dramatically during the 1960s. The coal briquettes were used to heat the living rooms through "Ondol" arrangement. The coal briquettes at the kitchen place make the heated air and smoke, which pass through the horizontal space under a stone floor of the room and escape through chimney at the opposite site of the kitchen. This Ondol system could make leakage of carbon monoxide easily and thereby kill people who sleep in the room. In the 1960s, carbon monoxide poisoning by briquettes gas was a serious health problem to kill more people than all of the infectious diseases. It was a unique and very serious health hazard in 1960s Korea. No other place in the world has experienced such a high mortality and incidence from the briquettes gas as in Korea. Employing newspaper articles and epidemiological papers, this paper analyzes how the Korean society experienced and perceived carbon monoxide poisoning (CO poisoning) in 1960s. It also follows how the perception changed over time and how the changes affected social responses to CO poisoning. In the early 1960s, the CO poisoning was perceived as an accident due to carelessness of the people who did not fix the leakages of the Ondol system or that of the people who built the Ondol improperly. Mostly CO poisoning was the casualty caused by carelessness and ignorance of the poor class. The prevention measure was mainly education which would enlighten the ignorant so that they care about CO poisoning and their lives. It was the victims who were to be blamed, for they caused the their poisoning with their own carelessness. Since CO poisoning was perceived as preventable with a good care, people were optimistic about the prevention of the CO poisoning. In the late 1960s, however, the perception of CO poisoning changed as the epidemiological studies demonstrated meteorological, social, economical, and cultural factors were related to the poisoning. As CO poisoning was regarded not as an accident due to carelessness but as a social disease, the Korean government began to take various measures for its control including surveillance and punishment, education and certification of those who made Ondol, and funding research for detoxification of the poisoning. In spite of the state's intervention, the number of CO poisoning cases drastically increased every year. At the end of 1960s, in contrast to the optimism of the early 1960s, the outlook of CO poisoning control was grim. It was merely a beginning of huge epidemic of CO poisoning in 1970s and 1980s in Korea.
本文探讨了20世纪60年代韩国一氧化碳中毒的社会史。从20世纪50年代中期开始，韩国社会开始使用煤球（Yeontan）作为烹饪和冬季取暖的燃料，尤其是在城市地区。随着煤球的使用取代了数百年来在韩国传统社会中用作燃料的柴火，20世纪60年代一氧化碳中毒的发病率和死亡率急剧上升。煤球通过“温突”装置为客厅供暖。厨房的煤球产生热气和烟雾，这些热气和烟雾穿过房间石地板下的水平空间，从厨房对面的烟囱排出。这种温突系统很容易导致一氧化碳泄漏，从而导致在房间里睡觉的人死亡。在20世纪60年代，煤球气导致的一氧化碳中毒是一个严重的健康问题，造成的死亡人数超过了所有传染病。这是20世纪60年代韩国特有的、非常严重的健康危害。世界上没有其他地方像韩国那样经历过如此高的煤球气死亡率和发病率。本文利用报纸文章和流行病学论文，分析了20世纪60年代韩国社会如何经历和认识一氧化碳中毒（CO中毒）。它还追踪了这种认识如何随时间变化，以及这些变化如何影响社会对CO中毒的应对措施。在20世纪60年代初，CO中毒被视为由于人们粗心大意造成的事故，这些人没有修复温突系统的泄漏问题，或者建造温突的人操作不当。大多数CO中毒是由贫困阶层的粗心和无知造成的伤亡。预防措施主要是教育，以启迪无知的人，使他们关注CO中毒和自己的生命。应该受到指责的是受害者，因为他们自己的粗心导致了中毒。由于人们认为通过细心照料可以预防CO中毒，所以对预防CO中毒持乐观态度。然而，在20世纪60年代后期，随着流行病学研究表明气象、社会、经济和文化因素与中毒有关，对CO中毒的认识发生了变化。由于CO中毒不再被视为由于粗心造成的事故，而是一种社会疾病，韩国政府开始采取各种控制措施，包括监测和惩罚、对建造温突的人员进行教育和认证，以及为中毒解毒研究提供资金。尽管国家进行了干预，但每年CO中毒病例的数量仍急剧增加。与20世纪60年代初的乐观态度形成对比的是，20世纪60年代末，CO中毒控制的前景严峻。这仅仅是20世纪70年代和80年代韩国CO中毒大流行的开始。
