Tainted Toothpaste Found in US Prisons

An officer from the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce (BAIC) office speaks to journalists near fake or non-standard products on display at a BAIC food safety monitoring center in Beijing in this June 12, 2007 file photo. China has closed 180 food factories after inspectors found industrial chemicals being used in products from candy to seafood, state media said Wednesday, June 27, 2007. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File) (Ng Han Guan - AP)

Beal said that when the FDA notified the state about contamination with diethylene glycol, the toothpaste was taken out of use.

"It's being stored," he said. "It's segregated from their operating supply. 'Do not use' signs are place on them. And they're pending disposition."

Tracy J. Smith, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections, said the prison system had no reports of any health problems related to the toothpaste.

Thomas Wilson, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Human Resources, which oversees the state's seven mental hospitals, said Thursday that after getting the FDA advisory on June 8, the tubes of tainted toothpaste were immediately pulled and replaced with name-brand toothpaste.

"We asked our clinical directors to be on the lookout for any signs of poisoning or symptoms," Wilson said. "We've not have anybody ill. We are continuing to monitor the situation."

Steve Hayes, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice, said none of the youths in the agency's care was affected by the tainted toothpaste.

"We pulled all the product immediately upon notification that there might be a problem and we've continued to monitor the youth in our care," Hayes said. "We've had no illnesses

A spokesman for North Carolina's Department of Correction told the Times that Pacific brand toothpaste was distributed to prisoners who could not afford to buy a name brand at prison stores. The tubes were taken away after trace amounts of DEG was found in them. They said there had been no illnesses reported, and that the toothpaste in question was being replaced with brands not manufactured in China.

Chinese exports came under scrutiny earlier this year with the deaths of dogs and cats in North America blamed on Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine.

Since then, U.S. authorities have turned away or recalled toxic fish, juice containing unsafe color additives and popular toy trains decorated with lead paint.

On Wednesday, three Japanese importers recalled millions of Chinese-made travel toothpaste sets, many sold to inns and hotels, after they were found to contain as much as 6.2 percent of diethylene glycol.

Wang, the Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman, said Chinese experts have already "explained the situation."