Posted on 05/19/2007 6:35:37 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
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.
``Our preliminary information is that it came from China, but we don't know that with certainty yet,'' said Daniel Delgado Diamante, Panama's director of customs.
``We are still checking all the possible imports to see if there could be other shipments.''
Some of the toothpaste, which arrived several months ago in the free trade zone next to the Panama Canal, was re-exported to the Dominican Republic in seven shipments, customs officials said.
A newspaper in Australia reported Friday that one brand of the toothpaste had been found on supermarket shelves there and had been recalled.
Diethylene glycol is the same poison that the Panamanian government inadvertently mixed into cold medicine last year, killing at least 100 people. Records show that in that incident the poison, falsely labeled as glycerin, a harmless syrup, also originated in China.
There is no evidence that the tainted toothpaste is in the United States, according to U.S. government officials.
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.
Health officials say they do not believe the toothpaste is harmful, because users spit it out after brushing, but they nonetheless took it out of circulation as a precaution.
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.
Miriam Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the Health Ministry, said she knew of no one who had become sick from using the toothpaste.
Doug Arbesfeld, a spokesman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said diethylene glycol was not approved for use in toothpaste. Though the FDA has no evidence that the tainted toothpaste slipped into the United States, he added: ``We are looking into the situation in Panama.''
Delgado, the director of Panamanian customs, said the Dominican authorities had been notified to be on the lookout for the suspect toothpaste.
In Panama, the poison was detected by a consumer who called the pharmacy and drugs section of the health ministry to report having seen diethylene glycol listed as an ingredient in toothpaste at a store in downtown Panama City.
The ministry fined the store $25,000 and ordered it closed for not following proper procedures in putting products up for sale.
The Northern Star, a newspaper in the southeastern Australian city of Lismore, reported Friday on its Web site that the Excel brand of toothpaste had been found in a chain of supermarkets there and taken off the shelves immediately.
No illnesses were reported.
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, including children, died as a direct result, according to Dimas Guevara, a Panamanian prosecutor who is leading the investigation into the deaths.
Over the years, counterfeiters have found it financially advantageous to substitute diethylene glycol, a sweet-tasting syrup, for its chemical cousin glycerin, which is usually much more expensive.
Nothing here. Nothing to see.
Just the NWO folks advancing their efforts to reduce the global population to 500,000,000
Nothing here. Nothing to see. Move along. Sing Kumbya as you go. Hug, if you must.
It does, doesn't it? I use the Equate brand of Advil and the 81 mg aspirin for my husband, and also of Polident. But we don't know for sure that the actual brands aren't coming from China. And if we substitute baking soda for toothpaste, how do we know where the baking soda came from? What a mess!
Carolyn
I beg to differ, Communist China is one big labor camp.
We already do. We have a very large community of them here and they have a little community market with the BEST vegetable. Both of my Jack Russell Terrorists came from there too. :-)
Thank you for the article.
This has been all over the local newspapers of course. I am glad to see this news is getting coverage in the United States.
I have always used Colgate.
Sure glad I use baking soda and salt for toothpaste.
It seems to be a trend that the recipes China has ‘borrowed’ from other countries are not being translated correctly. Geesh.... pet food... toothpaste.. Note to China- do not use poison in people or pet items. It is bad.
Where does IT come from these days? Blackbird.
THAT would be our very own FRee to be TRAITORS! Should you ever attempt to converse with ANY of them, they'll be quick to let you know what genius they possess. Heck, one of them told me I'm not worth what I'm being paid, knowing NOTHING of me or what I do for a living nor what I'm paid. They're regular legends in their own minds. Blackbird.
In China, the days of working for ration coupons and room and board are long gone - along with most elements of communism as a way of organizing the economy. This is why China's economy has advanced so rapidly - unfettered competition in a lot of areas. However, it is still very poor, which is why US exports to China are pretty low, relative to US imports from China.
Nonetheless, China's economy is much more open than Japan's was at this stage in its development. This is why China's imported $56b from the US in 2006, whereas Japan imported $59b. It is also why big name American brands like McDonald's have a huge presence in China, with 800 stores in place and hundreds more on the way. The fact is that China is now the biggest or second biggest Asian market for a lot of American products. It will remain this way only if it is allowed to grow. Across the board trade sanctions will lead to problems for (1) American exporters, who will see slower demand for US goods due to a slower Chinese economy, (2) American corporations manufacturing in China and selling in the Chinese market, who will see slower sales from a weaker Chinese economy (Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Colgate, Avon, American Standard - you name it - it's there), (3) American manufacturers, who will have to seek out lower cost locales for their plants, and perhaps split production between plants in China for non-US markets and plants in Indonesia for the US market, and (4) US consumers, who will see higher prices across the board, leading perhaps to interest rate increases, due to higher inflation.
By the way, if you think China is one massive slave labor camp, perhaps because of the low wages, what would be your take on India and Africa, which have lower per capita wages, because their economies are less free than China's, leading to relatively slower growth?
Bears repeating. Thank you for reminding us.
Why don't you join the Fred Thompson campaign?
No deadheads on these Chinese poison imorts threads. They must be all out checking their toothpaste labels. ...snicker...
Yeah, its weird isn’t it?
American companies will only sell in China until the Chinese have completed stealing their trade secrets and have set up Chinese companies making the same thing for the Chinese market. It will be very profitable for the current crop of CEOs, who will have retired on their fat bonuses and stock options before the troubles are seen
McDonald's doesn't have any trade secrets, any more than Burger King has trade secrets. Any McDonald's corporate manager can tell you how McDonald's operates. But there is ony one McDonald's - in the sense of an industry-dominating company - and everyone else is an also-ran. People don't buy Procter and Gamble Products (Crest, Wisk, etc) because of any secret formulas. They buy 'em because of a combination of slick marketing that convinces Chinese consumers that the product is right for them and a reputation for quality and reliability. The fact is that the primary foreign products on Chinese store shelves are American brand names and not European or Japanese brand names because American brand names have a reputation in China for quality. This is why GM sold 877,000 cars in China in 2006. That was 70% of GM's East Asian sales. In other words, GM sold more cars in China than the rest of East Asia put together.
There is also a cachet associated with buying foreign products in general and American products in particular - the main problem for the average Chinese isn't that he doesn't like US products - it's that he can't afford them, apart from soaps and shampoos and cell phones. And yet, despite the fact that American products are considered luxury goods in China, it imported $56b of American goods in 2006 - just $3b less than Japan.
As China grows wealthier, the amount of US exports to China is bound to increase. Why? For the same reason that US exports to Japan have increased. The Japanese have copied every major American innovation and continue to do so, but they have become a major US export market in the process. As Japanese wages increased from a tiny fraction of US wages to 2/3 American wages, Japanese buying power increased and the price differentials for Japanese consumers between Made in Japan and Made in USA products practically vanished.
Something similar is happening in China today, and it would be a shame to derail it. In fact, the Chinese market has surpassed Japan's for many US companies. GM's 877,000 sales figure for China dwarfs the 383,000 sales figure for the rest of East Asia. Back in the mid-90's, the Chinese market was a nonentity for US products.
Here's a pop quiz from 1997, which figure grew faster - US exports to China or Chinese exports to the US? The correct figure is US exports to China, which grew 18% per year compared to Chinese exports to the US which grew 16% a year. In fact, US exports to China in 2006 are skyrocketing (34% increase from 2005) at a time when Chinese exports to the US are leveling off (18% increase from 2005).
This ethylene (or diethylene) glycol is referred to as “glycol” in many children’s products, including cough syrup, etc.
It’s ANTI-FREEZE!
Nothing is going to happen, until Chinese economy crashes. Then all these "business leaders" and politicians would suddenly find out how bad China has been, after shock-wave from popping bubble nearly cut their heads off.
It has been this way for long time and why should we believe that we are any different? They always believe, "This time it is really different," the words which are lovely music to Devil's ears. No sweeter words have been spoken to Devil by mortals.
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