Moncton Forum

2007 06 19

JOANNA SMITH

Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070619.wcolgate19/BNStory/National/?cid=al_gam_nletter_newsUp

Health Canada is investigating suspected counterfeit toothpaste found in Southern Ontario that is similar to a product at the centre of a health recall throughout the United States because of fears it contains an ingredient used in antifreeze.

Steve Janke, 40, bought a tube of what purports to be Colgate brand toothpaste labelled as being manufactured in South Africa from a dollar store in Guelph, Ont.

The packaging was missing the French translation found on most Canadian products and the 100-millilitre tube was labelled as being manufactured by Colgate-Palmolive (PTY) Ltd. [CL-N] in South Africa.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a nationwide alert last week after finding similarly labelled tubes in four states. Some contained the chemical diethylene glycol (DEG), a cheap glycerin substitute found in antifreeze and brake fluid.

Colgate-Palmolive, which had no comment Monday, has told U.S. authorities it does not sell the 100-ml tubes in the United States and it does not import toothpaste from South Africa.

The FDA said the chemical poses "a low health risk" but a Staten Island newspaper in New York reported two people were hospitalized for nausea and abdominal pain after brushing their teeth with the phony Colgate.

Health Canada is taking the discovery seriously.

Wahid Choksi, who owns a chain of discount stores called Everything for a Dollar Store, said he has taken the inventory off the shelves.

"I called all my stores and I told them to remove it from the shelves as soon as possible and they have removed it," Mr. Choksi said Monday. It was unclear last night how many tubes had been sold by Mr. Choksi.

He said he also alerted his supplier, Toronto-based FHT Enterprises Inc. He had ordered the toothpaste from the company on March 26 and was shown a sample with a Canadian label, he said.

Athar Tayyabi, of FHT, said he was also shown a Canadian sample before importing 1,440 tubes from a company in New York. He said Mr. Choksi's chain was the only client he had sold them to.

"I'm going to throw it in the garbage," he said of the remaining inventory. Mr. Tayyabi would not disclose the name of his American supplier.

Health Canada began watching out for toothpaste brands imported from China last month when the FDA started testing for DEG after reports of tainted Chinese shipments surfaced in Central America and the Caribbean.

There have been no reported deaths from that toothpaste, but around 100 people died in Panama last year after ingesting DEG-contaminated cough syrup. It is unknown where the phony Colgate was manufactured but the suspicions about Chinese manufactured goods deepened Monday when it emerged that every one of the 24 toys recalled for safety reasons in the United States so far this year, including the enormously popular Thomas and Friends wooden train sets, was manufactured in China.

It is a record that is increasingly causing alarm among consumer advocates, parents and regulators. The latest recall, announced last week, involves 1.5 million Thomas and Friends trains and rail sets — or about 4 per cent of all those sold in the United States over the past two years — which were coated at a factory in China with potentially poisonous lead paint. Just in the last month, a so-called Floating Eyeballs toy made in China was recalled after it was found to be filled with kerosene, sets of toy drums and a toy bear were also recalled because of lead paint and an infant wrist rattle was recalled because of a choking hazard.

A spokesman for Health Canada, Paul Duchesne, said the agency would investigate the potential counterfeit toothpaste and will take "appropriate compliance and enforcement action," if necessary.

Mr. Janke, of Cambridge, Ont., said he was surprised to find the mysteriously labelled packages inside the first dollar store he checked out after reading about the U.S. scare.

"The actual main packaging looks fine," Mr. Janke said. "It's when you get to the small print that it starts to fall apart."

The cardboard box was riddled with spelling errors, often mistaking the letter 'L' for 'I' and vice versa, so that "should" became "shouid" and "against" became "agalnst". The brand name was misspelled as "Coigate."

The same information printed on the tube inside contained no errors, Mr. Janke said. He called the hot line Colgate-Palmolive had set up to handle the counterfeit crisis, and said he was told the tube he found in Guelph was not manufactured by the company and he was asked to send it in for testing.

With a report from The New York Times

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   2007 06 20

Toothpaste pulled from N.S. store's shelves

http://www.hfxnews.ca/index.cfm?sid=38897&sc=89
The Daily News

The Canadian Press

At least eight tubes of counterfeit Colgate toothpaste possibly containing harmful chemicals were sold in metro Halifax last week.

Two Everything For a Dollar stores in the city sold the fraudulent product, believed to contain diethylene glycol, a sweet-tasting thickening agent also used in antifreeze, before it was yanked off the shelves Thursday.

Black market manufacturers have been known to use the chemical in place of the sweetener glycerin because it's much cheaper.

"I hope nothing happened to anybody," said Nahid Ababaf, manager of one of the stores.

"I really feel sorry for this."

Last Thursday, Ababaf received a call from her shipping company, FHD, ordering her to take the toothpaste off the shelves immediately.

"He said, 'No questions, just repack it and don't sell it,'" she said.

The store had already sold five tubes to unknown customers.

In her backroom Tuesday, the fake toothpaste sat waiting to be picked up.

Its labels claimed it was approved by the South African Dental Assoxiation (sic) but several misspellings and blurry labels were obvious on the package.

Health Canada spokesman Paul Duchesne said consumers should look for the eight-digit identification, or DIN, number found on drugs as well as NPN numbers for natural products and DIN-HM numbers for homeopathic products.

"Those would be found on the label of the product and those numbers indicate that the products have been assessed by Health Canada for their safety, effectiveness and quality," he said.

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From

Prime Time Crime

http://www.primetimecrime.com/

Prime Time Crime is collected and published by Leo Knight, a former Canadian police officer, security expert and media commentator.

Canadian Health Officials warn against buying harmful toothpastes from China

Updated Sat. Jun. 30 2007 9:43 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Health Canada is warning Canadians not to buy Chinese toothpaste or counterfeit products sold falsely under the 'Colgate' brand name.

The organization has released two separate advisories to warn about the potentially harmful products.

Twenty-one Chinese toothpaste products found on the Canadian market have contained unacceptable levels of diethylene glycol (DEG), says Health Canada.

DEG is a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze and as a solvent that can cause "nausea, abdominal pain, dizziness, urinary problems, kidney failure, breathing problems, lethargy, convulsions, coma and even death when ingested."

If swallowed, the toothpaste could especially prove harmful in "vulnerable populations" such as children or consumers with kidney or liver disease.

Health Canada says the toothpastes are labelled primarily in Chinese and were found in Chinese markets and dollar stores across the country.

None have been approved for sale by Health Canada.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a similar warning. Following that, a customer alert was issued June 5, 2007 by Health Canada to the Canada Border Services Agency to stop shipments from China.

To date, no reports of any adverse reactions have been reported.

Counterfeit Colgate toothpaste

Health Canada is also warning that counterfeit toothpaste products, falsely labelled as Colgate Fluoride Toothpaste Herbal and Colgate Fluoride Toothpaste Maximum Cavity Protection, have been found to contain high levels of harmful bacteria.

The products pose a "significant risk to health, especially to children and individuals with compromised immune systems."

The organization is assisting the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in a criminal investigation.

Potential adverse effects that can occur if ingested are "fever, and gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. Infants and children are more sensitive to these effects and severe vomiting and diarrhea could lead to potentially life-threatening dehydration."

The products were also found to contain a bacteria from the Enterobacteriaceae family, which is of particular concern to patients hospitalized for severe underlying diseases or with compromised immune systems.

The products have been found for sale in the discount chain "Everything for a Dollar Store."

A third product labelled as Colgate, Flouride Toothpaste Gel, was also confirmed as counterfeit.

The Colgate Fluoride Toothpaste Maximum Cavity Protection is labelled as "Manufactured in South Africa" and contains misspellings including "isclinically" "SOUTH AFRLCA" and "South African Dental Assoxiation".

Health Canada says genuine Colgate toothpaste approved for sale in Canada is safe and labelled in both English and French.

Health Canada is warning that counterfeit toothpaste products, falsely labelled as Colgate Fluoride Toothpaste Herbal and Colgate Fluoride Toothpaste Maximum Cavity Protection, have been found to contain high levels of harmful bacteria.

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