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U.S. checking all toothpaste imports from China WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. health officials are beginning to check all shipments of toothpaste coming from China, following reports of tainted products in other countries, a government spokesman said Wednesday. The Food and Drug Administration has no evidence that contaminated toothpaste has made its way into the United States but is taking the step as a precaution, agency spokesman Doug Arbesfeld said. China is the second-largest exporter of toothpaste to the United States behind Canada, according to the FDA. The FDA's action comes after the lethal chemical diethylene glycol was found in toothpaste...

Two New York City businessmen have pleaded guilty in a scheme to distribute more than 500,000 tubes of counterfeit toothpaste imported from China. Fifty-one-year-old Saifoulaye Diallo and 47-year-old Habib Bah each face up to 10 years in prison after entering their pleas Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn. Prosecutors say the fake Colgate toothpaste was shipped to discount stores across the United States. They say it had no fluoride and contained microorganisms that posed health threats, but no illnesses have been reported.

When cold medicine containing a poison made in China killed nearly 120 Panamanians in 2006 and early 2007, Americans could take some comfort in the belief that a similar epidemic could never happen here, not with one of the best drug regulatory systems in the world. Then last spring, hundreds if not thousands of pets died or were sickened in the United States by a Chinese pet food ingredient that contained lethal levels of melamine, an industrial product used to artificially boost protein levels. That was followed quickly by the discovery that Americans were brushing their teeth with Chinese toothpaste...

PANAMA — Eduardo Arias hardly fits the profile of someone capable of humbling one of the world’s most formidable economic powers. A 51-year-old Kuna Indian, Mr. Arias grew up on a reservation paddling dugout canoes near his home on one of the San Blas islands off Panama’s Caribbean coast. He now lives in a small apartment above a food stand in Panama, the nation’s capital, also known as Panama City. But one Saturday morning in May, Eduardo Arias did something that would reverberate across six continents. He read the label on a 59-cent tube of toothpaste. On it were two...

A top Panamanian prosecutor said tests show at least 94 people have died from taking medicine contaminated with diethylene glycol since July 2006 and that 293 more deaths are under investigation. Prosecutor Dimas Guevara said Wednesday that people have continued to die this year even though the tainted medicine was pulled from shelves in October. Previously Panamanian authorities had confirmed only 51 deaths from the medicine. A chemical commonly found in antifreeze and brake fluid, diethylene glycol was used in cough syrup, antihistamine tablets, calamine lotion and rash ointment made in a Panama government laboratory. Investigations revealed the chemical was...

Five-ounce tubes of toothpaste labeled Colgate and sold in discount stores in four states are being recalled because they may contain a poisonous chemical, according to the importer. A Food and Drug Administration official, Doug Arbesfeld, confirmed that testing had found the chemical in a product with the Colgate label. But he said the agency is unsure if it is really Colgate or a counterfeit.

<p>FDA tests found antifreeze chemical; agency unsure if items are counterfeit.</p> <p>Five-ounce tubes of toothpaste labeled Colgate and sold in discount stores in four states are being recalled because they may contain a poisonous chemical, according to the importer. A Food and Drug Administration official, Doug Arbesfeld, confirmed that testing had found the chemical in a product with the Colgate label. But he said the agency is unsure if it is really Colgate or a counterfeit.</p>

In the wake of WND's report of the long, deadly history of Chinese-made toothpaste, a Florida company today issued a nationwide recall for toothpaste it imported from China and distributed to wholesalers, warning the product could contain a poisonous chemical. Though no injuries or illnesses have been reported, Gold City Enterprise LLC of Hallandale Beach acknowledged the roughly 170,000 recalled toothpaste products may have the contaminant diethylene glycol – a solvent used in antifreeze that killed 107 Americans when it was introduced in an elixir 70 years ago. The company is urging consumers to stop using the products and throw...

Toothless border control Palm Beach Post Editorial Wednesday, June 06, 2007 In April, tainted wheat gluten from China turned up in pet food that killed hundreds of dogs and cats in the United States and Canada. Last week, Chinese imports threatened the health of humans. The Food and Drug Administration warned consumers about toothpaste from China - some of it sold in Miami - that is contaminated with a chemical used in antifreeze. The FDA said the products had a "low but meaningful risk of toxicity and injury." The United States thus becomes the seventh country to find tainted Chinese...

Consumers were advised on Friday to discard all toothpaste made in China after federal health officials said they found Chinese-made toothpaste containing a poison related to a chemical used in 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 have 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...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today warned consumers to avoid using tubes of toothpaste labeled as made in China, and issued an import alert to prevent toothpaste containing the poisonous chemical diethylene glycol (DEG) from entering the United States. DEG is used in antifreeze and as a solvent. Consumers should examine toothpaste products for labeling that says the product is made in China. Out of an abundance of caution, FDA suggests that consumers throw away toothpaste with that labeling. FDA is concerned that these products may contain "diethylene glycol," also known as "diglycol" or "diglycol stearate." ... FDA...

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...

<p>A syrupy poison, diethylene glycol, is an indispensable part of the modern world, an industrial solvent and prime ingredient in antifreeze. It also is a killer. And the deaths, if not intentional, are often no accident.</p> <p>The kidneys fail first. Then the central nervous system begins to misfire. Paralysis spreads, making breathing difficult, then often impossible without assistance. In the end, most victims die.</p>

NEW YORK: A syrupy poison, diethylene glycol, is an indispensable part of the modern world, an industrial solvent and prime ingredient in antifreeze. It is also a killer. And the deaths, if not intentional, are often no accident. The kidneys fail first. Then the central nervous system begins to misfire. Paralysis spreads, making breathing difficult, then often impossible without assistance. In the end, most victims die. Many of them are children, poisoned at the hands of their unsuspecting parents. Over the years, the poison has been loaded into all varieties of medicine - cough syrup, fever medication, injectable drugs -...