Personal Injury Law

Company Pleads No Contest to CA Health and Safety Code Violation After Selling Poisonous Toothpaste

By Greg Owen

Selective Imports Corp. of Vernon pleaded no contest on Thursday to a misdemeanor health code violation of selling an adulterated drug product. The company is said to have sold nearly 80,000 tubes of Chinese toothpaste containing a poisonous ingredient.

In addition to a $33,000 donation to a local charity, the company will be placed on three years of probation and must follow U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines for recalling the toothpaste.

Charges against the company as well as four additional charges against its president and vice president were dropped.

Between December 2005 and May 2007, Selective Imports sold to distributors nationwide about 78,300 tubes of a Chinese-made toothpaste called "Cooldent." The toothpaste contained diethylene glycol, DEG, a thickening agent used in products ranging from cough syrup to antifreeze. DEG can be toxic if ingested in sufficient quantities. In fact, DEG-tainted cough syrup was blamed for the deaths of at least 94 people in Panama in recent years.

Although the U.S. bars its use in all but trace amounts in toothpaste, the imported Cooldent tubes had DEG levels that were twice the amount permitted under U.S. law.

No illnesses have been traced to the toothpaste, but most of the tubes remain unaccounted for and a recall continues.

Full post as published by Glendale Personal Injury Lawyer on March 02, 2009 (boomark / email).