Posted on 05/19/2007 6:35:37 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
Diethylene glycol, a poisonous ingredient in some antifreeze, has been found in 6,000 tubes of toothpaste in Panama, and customs officials there said Friday that the product appeared to have originated in China.
``Our preliminary information is that it came from China, but we don't know that with certainty yet,'' said Daniel Delgado Diamante, Panama's director of customs.
``We are still checking all the possible imports to see if there could be other shipments.''
Some of the toothpaste, which arrived several months ago in the free trade zone next to the Panama Canal, was re-exported to the Dominican Republic in seven shipments, customs officials said.
A newspaper in Australia reported Friday that one brand of the toothpaste had been found on supermarket shelves there and had been recalled.
Diethylene glycol is the same poison that the Panamanian government inadvertently mixed into cold medicine last year, killing at least 100 people. Records show that in that incident the poison, falsely labeled as glycerin, a harmless syrup, also originated in China.
There is no evidence that the tainted toothpaste is in the United States, according to U.S. government officials.
Panamanian health officials said diethylene glycol had been found in two brands of toothpaste, labeled in English as Excel and Cool. The tubes contained diethylene glycol concentrations of between 1.7 percent and 4.6 percent, said Luis Martinez, a prosecutor who is looking into the shipments.
Health officials say they do not believe the toothpaste is harmful, because users spit it out after brushing, but they nonetheless took it out of circulation as a precaution.
Martinez, the prosecutor, said at a recent news conference that the toothpaste lacked the required health certificates and had entered the market mixed in with products intended for animal consumption. He said laboratory tests had found up to 4.6 percent diethylene glycol in tubes of Cool toothpaste.
The Excel brand had 2.5 percent.
Miriam Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the Health Ministry, said she knew of no one who had become sick from using the toothpaste.
Doug Arbesfeld, a spokesman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said diethylene glycol was not approved for use in toothpaste. Though the FDA has no evidence that the tainted toothpaste slipped into the United States, he added: ``We are looking into the situation in Panama.''
Delgado, the director of Panamanian customs, said the Dominican authorities had been notified to be on the lookout for the suspect toothpaste.
In Panama, the poison was detected by a consumer who called the pharmacy and drugs section of the health ministry to report having seen diethylene glycol listed as an ingredient in toothpaste at a store in downtown Panama City.
The ministry fined the store $25,000 and ordered it closed for not following proper procedures in putting products up for sale.
The Northern Star, a newspaper in the southeastern Australian city of Lismore, reported Friday on its Web site that the Excel brand of toothpaste had been found in a chain of supermarkets there and taken off the shelves immediately.
No illnesses were reported.
Two weeks ago, The New York Times reported that a Chinese factory not certified to make pharmaceutical ingredients sold 46 barrels of syrup containing diethylene glycol that had been falsely labeled as 99.5 percent pure glycerin.
That syrup passed through several trading companies before ending up in Panama, where it was mixed into 260,000 bottles of cold medicine.
At least 100 people, including children, died as a direct result, according to Dimas Guevara, a Panamanian prosecutor who is leading the investigation into the deaths.
Over the years, counterfeiters have found it financially advantageous to substitute diethylene glycol, a sweet-tasting syrup, for its chemical cousin glycerin, which is usually much more expensive.
=)
Yes your editing is correct. Thanks the correction.
Be very, very careful with anything from China. They are bust exporting all kinds of poison.
Be very, very careful with anything from China. They are busy exporting all kinds of poison.
It just doesn’t end.
imagine that... chocolate in ...Mexico of all places! why, next thing you know someone will start claiming that chocolatl actually comes from Mexico!
China poisons the world.
It's probably coming from China.
Who gives a crap about the integrity of the food or toothpaste supply?
I’m sure it will get the quality sanitary control that Mexico is so famous for. Like watering crops with sewage.
bump.
One quickly forms the opinion that quality control is not a strong point of Communist labor camps.
It’s bad enough that Chinese fasteners break way below specs, but who is the genius that thought up the idea of importing stuff from Communist countries that you put in your mouth.
We make a nice tooth powder using dry powdered clay, salt, baking soda, a few powdered herbs, and some drops of various essential oils. May start selling it - peppermint, wintergreen, and fennel flavors.
Tastes really good, cheap, really good for the teeth and gums. If you (or anyone) wants the recipe, freepmail me and I’ll freepmail it back and post it on the thread. An hour’s work to make enough for at least 6 months, costs a fraction of regular toothpaste (at least with the ingredients I get) and kids like it too.
These things aren't done in labor camps. The kind of stuff done there is generally breaking rocks and clearing forests. Chinese penal colonies are something that predates communism by a couple of thousand years. In the old days, convicts were branded with hot irons on their faces, like cattle stateside.
The fact is that in China, the practice of substituting inferior products for the real thing is being carried out in a legal environment that is so loose that in many cases, it isn't even illegal. Why was it so loose? Previously, nobody thought to worry about enacting such laws because the government used to be in charge of making everything. The opening of the Chinese economy to private businesses in the late 1970's changed all that. These days, unqualified but energetic entrepreneurs are testing their products by using small quantities on themselves, and then going to market if they don't get sick. The problem is inadequate Chinese regulation and corruption, not slave labor camps or a Chinese conspiracy to poison Panamanians. Or Jamaicans.
No land war, just walk away and stop trading with them.
I sure hope Duncan Hunter is able to get some name recognition as a result of this. He’s the only 2008 presidential candidate with a credible stance on these issues with China.
“Baking soda can be used as toothpaste.”
First wet the toothbrush with hydrogen peroxide, then dip it into the baking soda for the best dentifrice.
I also read somewhere that when someone (reporter, whatever) went to visit the factory it had been taken apart and everything removed.
So maybe it is not the Chinese government but one of their feudal generals. The government does not really control everything, party officials and generals practically run everything. They just pay the "juice" to the highest party officials.
It is a coalition than the various “mob” families that run Russia. Much like the crime families only with a large army and navy. The central government might not have decided to dry run us but some wacked out general or regional party official might have.
Why are we trading with people that do not share our common values in life?
Oh these feel good politicians should be made to serve time in the Red Chinese prisons!
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