China Bans Toothpaste Additive
Country Tries to Restore Confidence
A customs agent points to diethylene glycol listed on a box of Chinese-made toothpaste in Nicaragua, where police have seized more than 40,000 tubes.
(By Esteban Felix -- Associated Press)
TOOLBOX   Resize
 Save/Share +
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
|
Thursday, July 12, 2007; Page D08
BEIJING, July 11 -- China banned diethylene glycol -- a thickening agent in antifreeze -- from use in toothpaste Wednesday, in one of its most significant concessions yet as it struggles to regain international confidence in the country's beleaguered exports.
Chinese-made toothpaste containing the toxic substance, which can cause kidney failure, paralysis and death, has been yanked from shelves in North and South America, Europe and Asia in recent weeks.
Diethylene glycol is used as a low-cost substitute for glycerin, a sweetener commonly found in drugs, food, toothpaste and other products. Although there have been no reports of health problems stemming from the toothpaste, dozens of people in Panama died last year after taking medicine contaminated with the chemical imported from China. It was passed off as harmless glycerin.
"From today onwards, toothpaste manufacturers are not allowed to use diethylene glycol as an ingredient," the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a notice posted late Wednesday on its Web site.
Although China has never had guidelines banning diethylene glycol, or DEG, in toothpaste, the statement said the majority of Chinese toothpaste manufacturers have already stopped using it in order to reassure consumers and "to avoid unnecessary losses incurred by exporting manufacturers."
But it said the ban extends to imported products and reiterated China's official stance that diethylene glycol in small quantities is safe, based on tests carried out by Chinese health experts in 2000.
"Long-term use of toothpaste containing DEG in amounts less than 15.6 percent will not have a negative health impact on humans," the administration said. "There's no evidence to show that the use of DEG in toothpaste directly causes cases of poisoning in people. . . . Consumers should not be concerned."
In recent weeks, importers of Chinese goods, especially the United States, have grown extremely wary as the list of products tainted with deadly toxins and dangerously high levels of chemicals has grown to include frozen fish, juice and toys.
The government also ordered small, loosely regulated food producers to clean up their act and announced stricter rules for approving new drugs.
