Poison toothpaste in Panama likely from China

[133724]

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.

<snip>

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.

<snip>

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.

<SNIP>

Doug Arbesfeld, a spokesman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said diethylene glycol was not approved for use in toothpaste.

<SNIP>

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 died as a direct result, according to Dimas Guevara, a Panamanian prosecutor leading the investigation into the deaths.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/316417_china19.html

Poisoned Pet food; Poisoned Toothpaste; Poisoned People????

What's next...

[Atman]

1. What next? Nothing.

Not as long as 'Murkins can get a vat of it at Wal Mart for $1.19. Isn't that's what's most important?

And I don't make the Wal Mart reference lightly. That company, more than any other, has forced this on America by demanding absurdly low prices from their vendors. Wal Mart is killing America. Literally.

.

[I Have A Dream]

2. This is a catastrophe waiting to happen. K&R! n/t

[phaseolus]

3. Either China is more incompetent than anyone's ever realized

...when it comes to consumer product safety, or there's a sneaky behind-the-scenes covert war that they're losing.

Occam's Razor would kind of point to incompetence being the most likely cause... but isn't it intriguing to think of something like this as the warfare of the future? If you could somehow destroy worldwide trust in a country's products, their balance of trade would suffer and they'd be poorer. War without firing a shot.

Might be incredibly difficult to pull off, though.

[napi21]

6. It could also be the other way!

One way for China to destroy the rest of the World.

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Not incompetence, it's dishonesty. This is DELIBERATE adulteration/counterfeiting.

Glycerin and ethylene glycol are both water-soluble and viscous, so it's not hard to pass one of as the other. Only DEG is cheaper, so unscrupulous distributors substitute DEG for glycerin and pocket the savings. Then when people start to die from it, they arrange to be untraceable.

It's not incompetent inspectors -- there just aren't any.

This is exactly the same situation that led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 (which created the FDA), except foreign imports are involved, because Bu**sh** arranged for our most favored friend, China, to avoid the embarassment of inspections.

We need a new Pure IMPORTED Food and Drug Act.

[Raine]

4. This is AWFUL

but the TV media doesn't touch it. :banghead:

[napi21]

5. What in the hell kind of comment is THAT?

Doug Arbesfeld, a spokesman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said diethylene glycol was not approved for use in toothpaste.

I don't know this Doug Arbesfeld is, or what his expertiese is, but somehow even I KNEW that wouldn't have been approved for toothpaste!

How long is it going to take congress to BAN any foods from China?

First it was cat moist food, then dog moist food, then it was dry pet foods and treats. It was only wheat gluten, but oops, then it was rice gluten too! Then we're told that there are 2 million chickens quarantened because THEY were fed the contaminated pet food!

The most interesting story of all was when the 2 reps from the FDA went to inspect the factory in China where the wheat gluten was made, IT HAD BEEN DESTROYED BY IT'S OWNER!


Damn, I'm already making my own dog food because I don't trust any of the manufacturers. This is really getting out of hand!

[Truthiness Inspector]

9. I didn't know about the Chinese factory

being destroyed before inspection. Just wow.

[napi21]

13. Here's a link to the story.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/foodwine/2003702435_petfood10.html

This whole mess has me absolutely disgusted with the US government. We're told the FDA has NO authority to recall products. All they can do is recommend to the business that they "should" recall tainted or defective products. I suppose that also means they sure can't tell them where they can buy their raw materials either! BUT...they can forbid you and I from buying drugs from Canada!!!!!!!!!!

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

20. Toothpaste isn't a food. n/t

[shenmue]

7. First the dogs, now the people...

They're coming for everybody.

:crazy:

:tinfoilhat:

[David Zephyr]

8. What's the matter, folks? It's just capitalism at work. Lighten up!

So if your beloved pets die from poisoned canned food from China? They died for a good cause: capitalism.

So what if humans perish while brushing their teeth with polish from China? Their deaths were not in vain. Their deaths are a testament to the great global free market.

Hell, Philip Armour knowingly sold poisoned canned food to the military killing our own troops and got away with and the Armour name is held in great esteem today.

Shit, John Rockefeller knowingly sold defective rifles to the military that blew off the hands of our troops, got away with it. Now go use your CITI bank card and keep his offspring on easy street.

RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris have murdered hundreds of millions of humans all around the globe for nearly a century. Why give a crap about a paltry few dead in Panama from toothpaste. Think about how many jobs the tobacco companies have created and how many great political leaders they have elected in our "free" western democratic societies.

It's the "invisible hand" at work. Get over it!

[file83]

11. Exactly! What more can people expect when the "World is Flat"?

If it's flat that means it's all equal! Standards, no standards, rules, no rules, laws, no laws, it's ALL equal now!

Woo-hoo! Instead of waiting for the rest of the world to catch up to American standards, let's do the pro-business thing, speed things up, and just lower American standards down to third world levels. Profits will soar!

Sure a few people will die or get sick, but hey, that's the pro environmental thing to do because we all know the global population needs to be reduced. Two birds, one stone.

(end of sarcastic rant)

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. Thank you, Nixon! Oh and the BFEE!

[MUSTANG_2004]

15. Thank Carter:

It was Carter who first granted Most Favored Nation status to China:
http://www.tibet.ca/en/wtnarchive/1994/4/21-3_3.html

So thank Carter (and every president since).

[madrchsod]

14. lead is china`s major export

they will put lead into anything they can get away with. they used so much lead in those cheap plastic blinds that the lead would leach out of the plastic. the latest was baby bibs with vinyl cartoon caricatures on them..yup lead in the vinyl.

we have spent hundreds if not billions of dollars over the years in medical costs,clean-up,and product reformulation to get rid of lead paint and other products containing lead. our government does nothing to protect us from these chinese products

[LisaL]

16. What's next?

I guess we are lucky Chinese haven't send us any toothpaste.

[MUSTANG_2004]

17. They probably have, and lots of other stuff - link

They export toothpaste to 80 countries:
http://english.people.com.cn/200605/12/eng20060512_265103.html

They make 60% of the world's vitamin C:
http://www.nutraingredients.com/news/ng.asp?id=60491-vitamin-china-anti-trust

And are sending us contaminated honey:
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2002/NEW00831.html

It seems like a matter of time before something terrible happens.

[NYC]

21. 5.2 billion tubes of toothpaste produced by China.

...As the world's largest maker of toothpaste, China's 5.2 billion tubes earned toothpaste producers a net profit of more than 70 million US dollars in 2005, the China Oral Care Products Industry Association said on Friday...

http://english.people.com.cn/200605/12/eng20060512_265103.html


I think I'll find out where my toothpaste is made. I don't want anything from China. Dog food, cat food, honey, cough syrup, toothpaste, infant formula, melamine in pork, chicken, fish.

Time to research my toothpaste.

[formercia]

18. Welcome to deregulation

Giving crooks a free hand to poison us into oblivion.

[MUSTANG_2004]

19. Not deregulation

This isn't deregulation, this is a lack of enforcement.

[Shallah Kali]

26. and lack of laws to enforce. FDA can't recall anything but baby formula.

Hoping corporations will do the right thing when there is no fines or jail time to encourage honest business dealing is futile. The FDA can't even order the spinach selling companies to make employees wash their hands when handling the spinach!

[133724]

22. Hanlon's razor

"You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor

One can only wonder.....

[kirby]

23. This is what created the FDA!

70 years ago there was a Diethylene glycol incident here where this chemical solution was mixed in with a poorly tested, yet new, liquid antibiotic.
That is what prompted the FDA to be created in 1938 after 107 people died.

Wow..Full Circle...

[133724]

24. Self Kick... it is important...n/t

[Horse with no Name]

25. Baking soda is a great alternative

:shrug:

[NashVegas]

27. I Use Tom's of Maine

and don't worry about this crap.