Chinese toothpaste with diethylene glycol

David Barboza of NYT has just published another expose on toxic toothpaste from China:

"But Ms. Shi and other toothpaste makers in this region said that diethylene glycol had been used in toothpaste in China for years and that producers believed it was not very harmful."

That just sounds like his theme from the last installment melamine-in gluten case: -- tragedies caused by unscrupulous and ignorant manufacturers. What he neglected to mention is that diethylene glycol is allowed in toothpaste, at least inside China. Here is a study from China concluding its "safety" in toothpaste.

The word safety was put in quote because I tend to agree with Mr. Barboza and question the Chinese study. Suppose teenagers and older people, after brushing and rinsing, do not ingest a lot of diethylene glycol. That doesn't mean individual cases of over ingestion is impossible, especially for younger children. There is just not much sense in using a toxic substance when other less dangerous polyglycols can be substituted for retaining moisture in toothpaste. In addition, according to research databases it seems China is the only country allowing this, which makes it even more suspicious.

I am all for challenging this practice the the above reasons. Yet compared to the melamine case there are two major differences:

1. Legal (if very questionable) vs. illegal additive;
   
2. Openly listed as an ingredient vs. undeclared adulteration.
   

Finally, I have to give Barboza credit for mentioning what I think is the root cause, although he chose not to highlight it:

“You know, if you’re in the export market, the margins are small, so people use the substitute,”...“Even one percent or half a percent price difference can matter to people here.”