California Attorney Tom Martin’s Law Blog

The FDA is warning consumers to throw out all toothpaste made in China after finding a poison commonly used in anti-freeze in toothpaste it checked in three U.S. cities.

FDA said brands of toothpaste from China that contain diethylene glycol (DEG) include: Cooldent Fluoride; Cooldent Spearmint; Cooldent ICE; Dr. Cool, Everfresh Toothpaste; Superdent Toothpaste; Clean Rite Toothpaste; Oralmax Extreme; Oral Bright Fresh Spearmint Flavor; Bright Max Peppermint Flavor; ShiR Fresh Mint Fluoride Paste; DentaPro; DentaKleen; and DentaKleen Junior. (Source: FDA FAQ.)

According to the New York Times, the agency said it had found DEG in toothpaste sold at a Dollar Plus retail store in Miami under the brand name ShiR Fresh. It said nine other brands also contained the sweet, syrupy chemical and warned the products had a “low but meaningful risk of toxicity and injury,” especially when used by children or individuals with kidney or liver disease.

But diethylene glycol was not listed on the label of the toothpaste found in the Miami store. Its presence was detected only because the FDA began testing imported Chinese toothpaste last month. That precaution was prompted by the discovery in Latin America of tens of thousands of tubes of tainted toothpaste made in China.

Over the years, counterfeiters have found it profitable to substitute diethylene glycol for its chemical cousin, glycerin, which is usually more expensive. Glycerin is a safe additive commonly found in food, drugs and household products. In toothpaste, glycerin is used as a thickening agent.

Chinese regulators said their investigation of toothpaste manufacturers there had found they had done nothing wrong. Chinese officials said small amounts of diethylene glycol could be safely used in toothpaste.

The FDA said diethylene glycol in any amount was not suitable for use in toothpaste. (Source: NY Times.)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 at 9:57 pm and is filed under Toxic Injury, Consumer Protection, Environmental Enforcement, General Legal . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.