Updated health warning - Diethylene Glycol in toothpastes
Wednesday 29 August 2007, 3:07PM
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The Director-General of Health today issued an update to the earlier warnings not to use certain brands of toothpaste because they may contain the toxic substance diethylene glycol.
The Director-General warns consumers not to use the toothpastes listed below because testing has shown they contain diethylene glycol. Diethylene glycol may cause harm in some people, in particular, young children or those with liver or kidney disease.
These toothpastes have been sold through specialty stores and discount chain stores. The products should no longer be on sale as retailers and distributors were requested to stop selling them whilst the Medsafe investigation was carried out.
On behalf of Medsafe, the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) has tested a total of 52 toothpaste products believed to have been manufactured in China - 16 of these have been found to contain unacceptable levels of diethylene glycol.
Products identified as containing diethylene glycol in New Zealand include:
| Toothpaste name, description and size | Content of diethylene glycol |
| Excel 120g | 2.45% |
| Maxam 120g | 10.60% |
| Evafresh 90g | 10.80% |
| Tian Qi in Green/Yellow pack 105g | 2.70% |
| Hei Mei Cpp 160g | 3.85% |
| Hei Mei Cpp 105g | 4.07% |
| Hei Mei with Green/Yellow pack 160g | 4.31% |
| Hei Mei with Green/Yellow pack 105g (2 samples) | 4.25%, 4.30% |
| Mr Cool 120g | 6.38% |
| Mr Fresh 120g | 6.35% |
| Dr Cool 120g | 3.92% |
| Smile 2 120g | 3.99% |
| Crescent 181g | 3.49% |
| Hei Mei in yellow pack with monkey detail 42g | 2.43% |
| Hei Mei in green pack 160g | 4.56% |
| Tri Leaf Spearmint 145g | 11.83% |