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selfbnd411 -> China Says Not to Worry: A Little Poison is OK (6/3/2007 12:23:04 PM)
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Last updated June 3, 2007 1:13 a.m. PT
China rejects U.S. warning on toothpaste
By ANITA CHANG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BEIJING -- China rejected a warning issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration urging consumers to avoid using Chinese toothpaste because it may contain a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze.
Calling the FDA warning "unscientific, irresponsible and contradictory," China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement posted on its Web site late Saturday that low levels of the chemical have been deemed safe for consumption.
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The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said experts from the Health Ministry had deemed diethylene glycol a "low-level" poison that does not accumulate in the body and found no evidence the substance caused cancer or deformities.
It also said European Union standards allow for a certain amount of the chemical and cited a 2000 Chinese study that found toothpaste containing less than 15.6 percent diethylene glycol was not harmful. The Chinese toothpaste the FDA is concerned about contains between 3 percent to 4 percent of the drug, according to the FDA.
"Therefore the warning issued by the FDA ... is unscientific, irresponsible and contradictory," the agency said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_China_US_Toothpaste.html
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