More poison exported from China. This time its toothpaste. An alert from a listserve. Original source NYT.

DIETHYLENE GLYCOL CONTAMINATION, TOOTHPASTE- MULTICOUNTRY EX CHINA
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A ProMED-mail post
ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases


Date: Tue 22 May 2007
Source: The New York Times [edited]


[As more contaminated toothpaste, including some made for children,
has turned up in Latin America, Chinese authorities are investigating
whether 2 companies from the coastal region of Danyang exported the
tainted toothpaste.]

A team of government investigators arrived [in Danyang] on Sunday
afternoon [20 May 2007], and closed the factory of the Danyang City
Success Household Chemical Company, a small building housing about 30
workers in a nearby village, according to villagers and one factory
worker. The government also questioned the manager of another
toothpaste maker, Goldcredit International Trading, which is in Wuxi,
about an hour's drive southeast of Danyang.

No tainted toothpaste has been found in the United States, but a
spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday
[21 May 2007], that the agency would be taking "a hard look" at
whether to issue an import alert.

Authorities in the Dominican Republic said they seized 36 000 tubes of
toothpaste suspected of containing diethylene glycol, an industrial
solvent and prime ingredient in some antifreeze. Included were tubes
of toothpaste with bubble gum and strawberry flavors marketed for
children and sold under the name of "Mr. Cool Junior."

Toothpaste containing the toxic solvent was also found in Panama and
Australia in the last week.

(rest below)

Bautista Rojas Gomez, the secretary of health of the Dominican
Republic, said the toothpaste, with diethylene glycol listed as an
ingredient, was found in stores and warehouses across the country,
including near the Haitian border.

Diethylene glycol is the same poison that the Panamanian government
unwittingly mixed into cold medicine last year, killing at least 100
people. In that case, the poison falsely labeled as glycerin, a
harmless syrup, originated in China, shipping records show. Diethylene
glycol is generally less expensive than its chemical cousin glycerin.
Panamanian authorities said they believed the tainted toothpaste found
in their country, containing up to 4.6 percent diethylene glycol, came
from China.

Executives from both companies under investigation in China denied in
interviews on Monday [21 May 2007], that they had exported any
toothpaste containing diethylene glycol to Panama. "We didn't do this;
we didn't make the bad stuff," said a manager at Danyang City Success.
"It was probably someone else." But [these companies] and other
toothpaste makers in this region said that diethylene glycol had been
used in toothpaste in China for years and that producers believed it
was not very harmful.

Government investigators arrived in Danyang just days after customs
officials in Panama said that they had discovered diethylene glycol in
6000 tubes of toothpaste. The toothpaste was being sold under the
English brand names "Mr. Cool" and "Excel."

There have been no reports of deaths tied to toothpaste containing the chemical.

Dr. Douglas Throckmorton, deputy director for the Center for Drug
Evaluation and Research at the FDA, said diethylene glycol levels
found in some Panamanian toothpaste were nearly 50 times greater than
what is deemed safe. "Kids swallow toothpaste," Dr. Throckmorton said.
"That is going to be a concern to you."

Suspicion over China's role in the tainted toothpaste and cold
medicine comes just weeks after investigators blamed 2 Chinese
companies for intentionally shipping pet food ingredients contaminated
with an industrial chemical to the United States, leading to one of
the largest pet food recalls in history. The cases are fueling
mounting concerns about the quality and safety of China's food and
drug exports and threatening to turn into a trade dispute.

After initially rejecting any Chinese role in the tainted pet food,
Beijing officials banned the use of melamine, an industrial chemical
used in fertilizer and plastics, from vegetable proteins. Melamine and
several related chemicals had been discovered in contaminated pet food
ingredients. Chinese officials also promised to overhaul its food
safety regulations and tighten export controls.

Indeed, the government seems to have responded quickly to reports last
weekend [19-20 May 2007], about contaminated toothpaste. [A] manager
at Goldcredit International, said investigators had talked to him over
the weekend because his company was the 1st to sell and export
toothpaste under the brand label "Mr. Cool." But he and his staff
insisted that Goldcredit never exported to Panama, and that this year
[2007] the company had exported only a small amount of "Mr. Cool"
toothpaste to Australia. Goldcredit executives said they did not sell
toothpaste under the "Excel" brand name. [He] said his company exports
toothpaste, toothbrushes, glue, and other goods to the United States,
Europe, and other regions but that his company no longer uses
diethylene glycol. He said, however, that most toothpaste makers in
this region use diethylene glycol because it is considered a cheap
substitute for glycerin. "You know, if you're in the export market,
the margins are small, so people use the substitute," he said. "Even
one percent or half a percent price difference can matter to people
here."

Executives from Goldcredit and Danyang said the brand "Mr. Cool" had
been copied by several other companies and that numerous trading
companies could be exporting the products. Danyang City Success
Household Chemical, however, said that while it did not export to
Panama, it has used diethylene glycol in its toothpaste, and that the
government does not have a clear regulation on how much can be added.
Danyang City Success is a small company in a village in Danyang, a
city whose entrance boasts that it has been designated one of China's
"national sanitary" cities for its cleanliness. [The company] produces
both "Mr. Cool" and "Excel" and exports toothpaste around the world,
including to Europe and Africa, company executives said. But this
afternoon, villagers and one young factory worker who declined to give
her name, said that investigators had arrived Sunday night [20 May
2007], and closed the factory to investigate possible contamination in
its exports. One of the managers along with her husband, met a
reporter at the entrance to the factory and insisted her company had
nothing to do with the case in Panama. Inside the gate, a team of
investigators could be seen meeting with company officials and then
departing with a bag of documents. Villagers said the investigators
were provincial and local officials, including the village's Communist
party secretary.

The sister of the party secretary, said Danyang City Success had been
around for 4 or 5 years and that it was run by a former salesman and
his wife who grew up in the village. "He used to sell packaging
materials. Then he saved up his money and started this toothpaste
company," she said. "But lately the company has been struggling."

[A manager] at Goldcredit said that while he did not produce the
toothpaste shipped to Panama, diethylene glycol had been used for
years at very low levels in Chinese toothpaste as a glycerin
substitute. "If diethylene glycol were poisonous," he said, "all
Chinese people would have been poisoned."

[Byline: David Barboza, Walt Bogdanich]

--

[An excellent discussion of diethylene glycol can be found on
ProMED-mail post 20061014.2947.

Diethylene glycol is a toxic substance, but the dose in a "serving" of
toothpaste may not be enough to cause an immediate toxicity. However,
the results of continuous low dose exposure to mucous membranes are
not well documented and may well have long-term sequelae, such as
cancer. - Mod.TG]

[This is now the 3rd significant quality control issue on exported
products from China in the past 12 months. It is the 2nd problem
associated with diethylene glycol contamination -- the 1st incident
was the use of dietheylene glycol in preparation of cough syrup in
Panama, the 2nd was the recent recall associated with melamine
contamination of pet food leading to renal failure and death of cats
and dogs in the USA (see prior ProMED-mail postings listed below).
Pardon the pun but this definitely raises "food for thought" on
quality control monitoring issues for international export markets. -
Mod.MPP]