In a recent article, The New York Times reports that Chinese authorities are investigating whether two companies have exported contaminated toothpaste overseas.
“No tainted toothpaste has been found in the United States, but a spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration” said yesterday that the agency would be taking “a hard look” at whether to issue an import alert. “
Authorities in the Dominican Republic have found about 36,000 tubes of toothpaste which may be contaminated with diethylene glycol, which is an industrial solvent and an ingredient in some antifreeze. Unfortunately, included in this huge amount of toothpaste were tubes of toothpaste marketed for children as “Mr Cool Junior” or “Excel”.
Tubes of toothpaste containing the toxic ingredient were also found in Panama and Australia within the last week. Diethylene Glycol is the same poison that the Panamanian government accidentally mixed into cold medicine last year, killing 100 people. There have been no reports of deaths tied to consumption of this toothpaste so far.