Chinese Toothpaste: More interesting details

A recent NY Times article says that now China has "banned manufacturers from making toothpaste with diethylene glycol". Oh, good. But the same article, a bit further down tells us that "presence of diethylene glycol in Chinese toothpaste was first discovered two months ago in Panama, where at least 100 people died from using cold medicine laced with diethylene glycol." So should we still watch out for cold medicine? And what else? I bet there are 100 types of products we should watch out for.

Apparently the Chinese think we are a bunch of whiners, because according to the article, "toothpaste is meant to be spit out". But some of the Chinese brands are for children, with flavors like bubblegum and strawberry. This picture doesn't add up.

Nothing here changes my mind:

• I don't trust the Chinese suppliers
• nor can I totally rely on incoming inspection

The burden has to fall on the importers of the products. Not that we can totally trust our big corporations either, but at least they are within reach of our laws if they transgress. Furthermore, I don't think we want to regulate what they can and can't import. The answer is simple: Label the ingredients AND their country of origin.