- P* F4 E% G( H纽约时报说，美国另一家主要药品经销商和健康服务公司McKesson，也对含有少量二甘醇的中国牙膏进行了召回。该公司发言人称，尽管他们经销的牙膏品牌没有列入联邦监管部门的“黑名单”，他们还是请一家实验室进行了化验。在发现含有少量的二甘醇后，公司便立即召回了这批产品。 " i4 M5 \/ \2 E8 D1 x* v: K9 Q% V1 Z& o
McKesson公司的发言人称，他们检查了所有的销售记录，并与所有购买这种产品的客户进行了接触。但发言人还补充说，现在还不知道有多少客户已经购买了这种产品。 , Y- `+ i7 l+ y% f1 T+ u8 ?) [: i$ o; e/ h0 L/ L) c9 x
佛罗里达州的一家拥有200张病床的医院也购买了中国产的牙膏。该医院负责人介绍说，在联邦监管部门发出警告后，他们就收回了这些牙膏，可这些牙膏的替换品也是来自中国的产品，而且也含有少量的二甘醇，最后他们不得不又把第二批牙膏撤下来。$ g. t0 F4 y! D+ O4 u
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在南卡罗来纳州，共有4家医院收回了中国产的牙膏，尽管经销商声称这批牙膏未含有二甘醇。多维社注意到，中国官方媒体6月28日透露说，中国国家标准委员会联合卫生部正制定牙膏二甘醇成分限量标准。- T$ V9 S7 p8 U
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消息称，最近，中国牙膏在境外市场遇到了前所未有的困扰，自从上个月巴拿马查出国内出口的牙膏含有二甘醇开始，内地牙膏产品相继在美国、新加坡、香港遭遇安全质疑，不少产品甚至被停售。 ! u8 `/ Y( ^+ j0 H" G6 ~ |% X9 ?% f7 @
这场风波给中国牙膏企业带来了不小的损失。中国口腔清洁护理用品工业协会秘书长相建强说：“今年我估计要减少1000万美元，这是我们行业不应该受到的一个损失。” " D2 {4 O7 G8 a. ^, u0 Z / V' ?' v+ y: @: \+ P& X, o自“中国牙膏二甘醇事件”引起关注后，中国生产的牙膏或多或少都受到了影响，不少牙膏企业已经开始弃用二甘醇。在市场上，国内二甘醇价格一周之内每吨下跌了160元。二甘醇是牙膏保湿剂的一种，可以防止牙膏干硬。此外类似原料还有甘油和山梨醇。最开始牙膏生产是用甘油做保湿剂，但随着甘油价格上涨，出现了比较便宜的替代品二甘醇。! e# C4 M4 g6 X
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值得注意的是，与二甘醇相同，目前中国国内没有针对牙膏山梨醇含量制定的相关标准。据介绍，目前中国国家标准委联合卫生部，正紧急制定牙膏中二甘醇等各种牙膏成分限量的国家标准。" O- `! v: G8 s
% n; o3 D0 e) o3 f( d , P7 M7 ^& P$ g9 Y* D8 oA photo provided by the North Carolina Department of Corrections shows one of about 22,000 tubes of Chinese toothpaste it bought. 0 n- L' C5 @, _" G8 {
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Wider Sale Is Seen for Toothpaste Tainted in China ) ?! F8 e2 g5 L4 G/ n
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After federal health officials discovered last month that tainted Chinese toothpaste had entered the United States, they warned that it would most likely be found in discount stores. 7 f: r% R3 U- B
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In fact, the toothpaste has been distributed much more widely. Roughly 900,000 tubes containing a poison used in some antifreeze products have turned up in hospitals for the mentally ill, prisons, juvenile detention centers and even some hospitals serving the general population.9 e6 `( o7 v' D: x* U
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The toothpaste was handed out in dozens of state institutions, mostly in Georgia but also in North Carolina, according to state officials. Hospitals in South Carolina and Florida also reported receiving Chinese-made toothpaste, and a major national pharmaceutical distributor said it was recalling tainted Chinese toothpaste.. T9 x8 S1 m% x/ L8 Q
& w" p& U: f. m) K" m* XThe Food and Drug Administration has advised consumers to discard all Chinese-made toothpaste, regardless of the brand. * x8 U( r0 r3 k: q+ ~* k0 n
$ {2 P0 T# p/ F# ^1 q% w, j& \State officials in Georgia and North Carolina said all the tainted tubes were being replaced with brands made outside China. The officials said there had been no reports of illnesses caused by the toothpaste.! p9 f! Z; B6 V Q( f
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Officials of the Food and Drug Administration said toothpaste with even small amounts of the bad ingredient, diethylene glycol, a syrupy poison, had a “low but meaningful risk of toxicity and injury” for children and people with kidney or liver disease. 7 ?& \' C$ ~0 d6 [: m % y& n4 w9 d& I' `“This stuff does not belong in toothpaste, period,” a spokesman for the drug agency, Doug Arbesfeld, said. “No Chinese toothpaste has come into the country since the end of May.”2 P: E& y1 j6 `( @ A: J' f
, ~1 y, a- }7 M: sSince the Panamanian government found Chinese toothpaste with diethylene glycol in May, countries from Latin America to West Africa to Japan have seized the toothpaste. ; G* ?+ n) t( A t# K0 P
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Panama last year inadvertently mixed the poison made in China into 260,000 bottles of cold medicine, killing at least 100 people, prosecutors there said. 9 F: V2 k' G: ]$ ?" o [+ ?9 T 5 N' S+ x) x# r5 P. uDiethylene glycol is often used in Chinese toothpaste in place of its more expensive chemical cousin glycerin. Chinese regulators have said that toothpaste with small amounts of diethylene glycol is not harmful and that international concern is unjustified. 5 l' [, C2 Z1 w+ T3 x8 P: @3 h # C& ]/ d# @1 hAfter the drug agency expressed concern about tainted toothpaste, the Georgia Department of Administrative Services checked to see whether Chinese toothpaste was being used by the state. The department found it in 83 prisons, 4 mental health centers and 4 juvenile detention centers, said Rick Beal, contracts manager for the department. : }! J4 a1 O- Q) K6 s/ L% @* f' S/ V5 l. \% H
Mr. Beal said officials confiscated 5,877 remaining cases, each with 144 tubes, of the Springfresh brand. Tests showed the toothpaste had a diethylene glycol concentration of about 5 percent, he said. 2 b5 b! {0 P8 a" }4 F' M
, {4 ]# N( o6 l( w" o' RThe state bought the toothpaste for about 9 cents a tube in 2002. Mr. Beal said he did not know how many tubes had been used. , i2 t3 t; E7 U. w2 ?/ x9 c5 H; }# n( m, Z, u
There are no reports of harm resulting from the toothpaste, bought from a distributor, American Amenities in Seattle. 6 |4 V w C9 p8 Z# } ' ^4 h' p: S F) N2 d“We do not know who their manufacturer from China was,” Mr. Beal said. $ [1 f( \6 ~3 j8 G9 ~# T( h+ Y, R! X% p Z k/ o
A lawyer for American Amenities, Jesse Lyon, said it had recalled all suspect shipments of the product and had decided to stop importing Chinese toothpaste. Mr. Lyon said he believed that American Amenities had about 30 institutional customers, with Georgia being the largest. 5 u2 V6 Q5 n9 [. X F4 l6 p & u- }/ ^4 H" H6 VA spokesman for the North Carolina Department of Corrections, George Dudley, said his agency estimated that it bought 22,000 tubes of Pacific brand Chinese toothpaste with a small amount of diethylene glycol from Pacific Care Products in San Francisco. 1 l& t! m9 y- U( G5 W& P/ c% g * Y/ n' b3 \$ ?3 h' A7 LPacific Care did not respond to a request for comment, but an executive wrote to North Carolina officials that the toothpaste came from Amercare Products, also in Seattle. A spokeswoman for Amercare declined to comment.4 O& W: l0 }, `- ^! A( k. a
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Chinese toothpaste containing “trace amounts” of diethylene glycol has also been recalled from healthcare institutions by McKesson, a major pharmaceutical distributor and health services company, said a spokesman, James Larkin. ! Q2 k% A+ t9 { f( Y- g$ r; c7 L3 Q 8 c! d# C7 h! H" |Mr. Larkin said although this particular brand, McKesson EverFRESH, was not on the drug agency’s list of contaminated toothpaste, McKesson asked a laboratory to test it. When small amounts of diethylene glycol turned up, the company recalled the product, he said.! @) E. @/ A* H+ T4 M W
* X, t/ g$ x+ Q3 ]2 _) L“We went back through our records, and every customer that ever bought the product was contacted,” Mr. Larkin said. A: q8 i7 u. u5 t # P2 U8 F# S4 E" c( T2 H. \He added that on short notice he could not determine how many customers had bought the product.4 b/ B5 Q7 ^9 B+ ?# g
& q! }8 y$ E; j- J4 jOne institution that did was Florida Hospital Waterman, a 200-bed institution in Tavares, Fla. 2 ~6 ]2 j" H1 L7 P% D, E, N: }6 C7 f4 {, p- q0 d$ ]1 @, \
“We pulled that product,” Bonnie Zimmerman of the hospital said. ' {7 o _% V3 P3 t : G P T9 j4 G2 n, Y T+ y2 A0 M0 qMs. Zimmerman said that the toothpaste that replaced it also came from China and it had “trace amounts” of diethylene glycol. It, too, was removed, she said. 0 T9 a9 V4 p. e' H. u V7 W # n$ Z# v/ i8 a$ ]' E, zIn South Carolina, four hospitals in the Greenville Hospital System also removed Chinese toothpaste, even though its distributor said it did not have diethylene glycol, said John Mateka, executive director of materials management for the group.
