Tainted Toothpaste in DR

Gabriela

Bronze
Dec 4, 2003
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:paranoid:Check your bathroom to see which toothpaste you have. According to the New York Times:
Consumers were advised yesterday to discard all toothpaste made in China after federal health officials said they found Chinese-made toothpaste containing a poison used in some antifreeze in three locations: Miami, the Port of Los Angeles and Puerto Rico.

Although there are no reports of anyone being harmed by the toothpaste, the Food and Drug Administration warned that the Chinese products had a ?low but meaningful risk of toxicity and injury? to children and people with kidney or liver disease.

The United States is the seventh country to find tainted Chinese toothpaste within its borders in recent weeks.

Agency officials said they found toothpaste containing a small amount of diethylene glycol, a sweet, syrupy poison, at a Dollar Plus retail store in Miami, sold under the brand name ShiR Fresh Mint Fluoride Paste. The F.D.A. also identified nine other brands of Chinese toothpaste that contain diethylene glycol, some with concentrations of 3 percent to 4 percent.

Previously, only a few brands had been identified by health officials around the world as containing diethylene glycol and all of them listed the chemical on the label.

But diethylene glycol was not listed on the label of the toothpaste found in the Miami store. Its presence was detected only because the F.D.A. 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 Thursday that their investigation of toothpaste manufacturers there had found they had done nothing wrong. Chinese officials also said that while small amounts of diethylene glycol could be safely used in toothpaste, new controls would be imposed on its use in toothpaste.

The F.D.A. said diethylene glycol in any amount was not suitable for use in toothpaste.

The agency said two Chinese companies, Goldcredit International Trading and the Suzhou City Jinmao Daily Chemicals Company, made the tainted brands found in the United States.

In a statement yesterday, federal health officials called diethylene-glycol poisoning ?an important public safety issue.? The Panamanian government last year inadvertently mixed the poison made in China into 260,000 bottles of cold medicine, killing at least 100 people, prosecutors there said.

In that case, Chinese regulators acknowledged on Thursday that two companies in China had ?engaged in some misconduct? in the way they labeled and sold the diethylene glycol, but they said a Panamanian importer bore most of the blame.

Last month, after publicity over the poisoning deaths from the cold medicine, a consumer in Panama noticed that toothpaste in a store listed diethylene glycol as an ingredient and notified the authorities. Eventually it was traced to China, and since then countries around the world have been on the lookout for the product.

In addition to the United States and Panama, tainted toothpaste has been found in Australia, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Chinese exports of toothpaste to the United States account for $3.3 million out of a $2 billion-dollar market in America, F.D.A. officials said. ?The scope of this is fairly small when you look at all the toothpaste that is consumed in the U.S.,? Doug Arbesfeld, an agency spokesman, said.

The agency said Chinese-made brands with diethylene glycol were typically sold at low-cost, ?bargain? retail outlets. A man answering the phone at the Dollar Plus store in Miami, identified by federal officials as selling the Chinese toothpaste, said he did not want to be interviewed because his English was poor. The man, who did not give his name, said federal inspectors came to his store yesterday.

Mr. Arbesfeld said that six tubes were confiscated there and that several more were found at the store?s distributor. Those tubes were destroyed. F.D.A. officials also said they had confiscated several brands of toothpaste at the Port of Los Angeles and at a retail store in Puerto Rico.

The agency said toothpaste containing diethylene glycol was sold under the names Cooldent Fluoride, Cooldent Spearmint, Cooldent ICE, Dr. Cool, Superdent, Clean Rite, Oralmax Extreme, Oral Bright, Bright Max, and ShiR Fresh Mint.

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Mirador

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Diethylene glycol

Capt. Rob57 where are you, when needed...;-)

This tainted Chinese toothpaste scandal is media spin and part of the trade war between the US and China.

Diethylene glycol has been approved as a toothpaste ingredient by the U.S. Patent Office (U.S. Patent No. 4,294,894). In order to poison yourself with diethylene glycol containing toothpaste, a 110 pound person would have to ingest (swallow) the contents of at least 150 toothpaste tubes (100mL containers) of the stuff. There's a lot more toxic stuff in the market, sold and used daily.... For ages I suffered from gastritis, until I found out the culprit. My gastritis was produced by rinsing my mouth with Listerine mouthwash. Once I stopped using the product, my gastritis went away. Everything is toxic to a certain degree, but diethylene glycol toxicity in toothpaste is being overhyped in order to undermine Chinese products vis a vis U.S. products. The toothpaste was being sold in the DR for 25 pesos including a complementary toothbrush, while a similar tube of Colgate brand goes for near or more than 100 pesos.

Here's scientific data on diethylene glycol Product Sheet, please read the section titled Potential Health Effects.
 
Jan 9, 2004
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Once again.....

Mirador:

While I respect your right to form your own opinion on the cause(s) of the "toothpaste scandal" in the D.R., I must again take exception to a certain item you are posting as factual.

The U.S. Patent Office does not, indeed could not, approve Diethylene glycol as an ingredient for toothpaste. It is not within their agency rights or responsibilities to do so. That would be a function of the Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.).

And, to my knowledge, the F.D.A has never approved Diethylene glycol as a "toothpaste ingredient."


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2



Capt. Rob57 where are you, when needed...;-)

This tainted Chinese toothpaste scandal is media spin and part of the trade war between the US and China.

Diethylene glycol has been approved as a toothpaste ingredient by the U.S. Patent Office (U.S. Patent No. 4,294,894). In order to poison yourself with diethylene glycol containing toothpaste, a 110 pound person would have to ingest (swallow) the contents of at least 150 toothpaste tubes (100mL containers) of the stuff. There's a lot more toxic stuff in the market, sold and used daily.... For ages I suffered from gastritis, until I found out the culprit. My gastritis was produced by rinsing my mouth with Listerine mouthwash. Once I stopped using the product, my gastritis went away. Everything is toxic to a certain degree, but diethylene glycol toxicity in toothpaste is being overhyped in order to undermine Chinese products vis a vis U.S. products. The toothpaste was being sold in the DR for 25 pesos including a complementary toothbrush, while a similar tube of Colgate brand goes for near or more than 100 pesos.

Here's scientific data on diethylene glycol Product Sheet, please read the section titled Potential Health Effects.
 

Mirador

On Permanent Vacation!
Apr 15, 2004
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..... I respect your right to form your own opinion ...

Playacaribe2:

That's exactly what two young and shy Mormon missionaries said to me, yesterday afternoon, when they visited my home, and after about half and hour of trying to pry an (any) opinion from them about the DR, I gave them a piece of my mind, and told them what I thought of their president, and how he was a menace to world peace.

I know the functions of the FDA and the U.S. Patent Office. What the U.S. Patent Office does is register proprietary rights for making, processing, manufacturing, etc. and in this case, a toothpaste that includes the use of diethylene glycol (U.S. Patent No. 4,294,894) . They have also patented the electric chair and the gas chamber.

Very respectfully,
Mirador
 
Jan 9, 2004
10,898
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Then we agree...

that the U.S. Patent Office registers proprietarty rights for making, processing and manufacturing.

But, it does not approve of those ingredients, as you stated above. That is the purview of other federal agencies to handle. And, again to my knowledge, the F.D.A has never approved Diethylene glycol as an ingredient in toothpaste.

Additionally, just for the record, I took the liberty to review and fact check the patent you reference. While not a scientist, I am unable to find any reference to Diethylene glycol in that document. Perhaps you can cite a page number in that document as to where the ingredient is listed and still manage to keep this D.R. related.

This is by no means to be considerd an attack upon you individually. Normally my posts here are to help inform the DR1 readership, but lately I have had reason to question the veracity of your facts.

Trying to formulate an argument that the D.R. toothpaste scare is part and parcel of some U.S. versus China economic conspiracy without providing anything other than opinion is, if you will pardon the pun, toothless.

Further it is hardly related to the D.R. and to the purpose of this board. So, to the extent that I have strayed, I apologize in advance to the readership.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2



Playacaribe2:

That's exactly what two young and shy Mormon missionaries said to me, yesterday afternoon, when they visited my home, and after about half and hour of trying to pry an (any) opinion from them about the DR, I gave them a piece of my mind, and told them what I thought of their president, and how he was a menace to world peace.

I know the functions of the FDA and the U.S. Patent Office. What the U.S. Patent Office does is register proprietary rights for making, processing, manufacturing, etc. and in this case, a toothpaste that includes the use of diethylene glycol (U.S. Patent No. 4,294,894) . They have also patented the electric chair and the gas chamber.

Very respectfully,
Mirador
 

Mirador

On Permanent Vacation!
Apr 15, 2004
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Playacaribe2:

The US. Patent in question is titled: Transparent toothpaste having a medicinal action and process for its production (US Patent No. 4,294,894), and mentions diethylene glycol in its Description:

"The degree of transparency of the toothpaste, according to the present invention, may be varied as a function of the composition and of the amount of the vehicular agents. Vehicular agents suitable for use herein include glycerol, sorbitol, diethylene glycol, polyethylene glycols, propylene glycol and mixtures thereof. The foregoing vehicular agents also serve as emollients."

and also in its Claims:

"13. The toothpaste according to claim 12 wherein said polyglycolic vehicle is glycerol, sorbitol, diethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol or propylene glycol or a mixture of two or more thereof."

You can find the entire patent in the following link: FreePatentsOnLine

Most importantly, this issue is very much DR related, inasmuch as an important health product has been retrieved from the DR market for reason beyond its relative safety/danger. In my folk healing practice, one of the most frequent complaints are health disorders, brought about by inadequate dental hygiene, contributed by the fact that people in the rural SW do not use toothbrushes and/or toothpaste because they cannot affort the US product. Last year I did a quick survey at the primary school of Las Lomas, Azua, and over fifty percent of the students declared that they had neither toothbrushes or toothpaste in their homes. So when a recently introduced Chinese 25 peso toothpaste with a complimentary toothbrush is retrieved from the market in order to favor US products, in particular Colgate et al, that sells its toothpaste in the local market for around 100 pesos, it is very difficult to not interpret this as DR related.
 

Mirador

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Apr 15, 2004
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methyl salicylate

"NEW YORK (AP) -- A medical examiner blamed a 17-year-old track star's death on the use of too much muscle cream, the kind used to soothe aching legs after exercise. Arielle Newman, a cross-country runner at Notre Dame Academy on Staten Island, died after her body absorbed high levels of methyl salicylate, an anti-inflammatory found in sports creams such as Bengay and Icy Hot, the New York City medical examiner said Friday."


The New York Times
 

Mirador

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Oil of wintergreen (methyl salicylate)

Methyl salicylate is used in a variety of products as oil of wintergreen which is composed almost entirely of methyl salicylate. Oil of wintergreen is used as flavoring agent for toothpastes, mothwashes (including Listerine), chewing gum, and various candies. Oil of wintergreen is also used as a flavoring agent in many soft drinks, like root beer, including the world's most recognized soft drink, Coca-Cola.

An idea of the toxicity of oil of wintergreen can be obtained from reading many scientific papers, including one published in... Prescription Drug Information, Side Effects, Interactions - Drugs.com ...

"Adverse Reactions

One case report documents a potential hypersensitivity reaction in a nonsmoking woman 21 years of age with a history of asthma, who complained of wheezing and bronchial pains after using a tartar-control toothpaste flavored with wintergreen. Another case report documents a patient developing laryngeal edema after accidental ingestion of wintergreen oil...

Toxicology

When ingested, the highly concentrated liquid methyl salicylate in the form of wintergreen oil, as with other volatile oils, can induce vomiting and is a notorious source for severe, often fatal, poisonings. Children often may associate the pleasant odor of wintergreen oil with ?candy?. However, the oil may be particularly toxic to children. One teaspoon (5 mL) of wintergreen oil is equivalent to approximately 7000 mg of salicylate or 21.5 adult aspirin tablets. Ingestion of as little as 4 mL in a child and 6 mL in an adult has been fatal. Because of this toxicity, official labeling requirements have been changed so that no drug product may contain more than 5% methyl salicylate. No deaths have been reported from ingestion of the plant itself.
The compound lectin has been shown to have mutagenic properties; the extract is used in some insecticides.
The essential oil and its component can be absorbed through the skin; thus, salicylate intoxications occur following topical application of methyl salicylate or wintergreen oil. Because of the structural similarity between methyl salicylate and acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin), a toxic syndrome similar to that seen in salicylism has been observed in persons who have ingested wintergreen for prolonged periods of time. This syndrome has been characterized by tinnitus, nausea, and vomiting.
A man 40 years of age became suddenly and acutely ill within 1hour after an herbalist topically applied an herbal.... containing an unknown amount of wintergreen oil for the treatment of psoriasis. The patient developed tinnitus followed by hyperpnea, vomiting, diaphoresis, fever, and CNS disturbance (wintergreen oil in liquid form is a highly lipid soluble).
An Asian woman 70 years of age, seeking relief for her chronic..., developed similar clinical manifestations of methyl salicylate poisoning (eg, acid-base disturbance, endocrine abnormalities, fluid and electrolyte imbalances, CNS toxicity) after ingesting 60 mL of topical Koong Yick Hung Fa Oil (KYHFUO: contains 56.2 g of salicylic acid, the equivalent of 173 regular-strength, adult aspirin tablets) purchased at an Asian grocery store in Singapore..."