3. Chemical used by Colgate Total toothpaste to fight
off gum disease is linked to cancer.
Colgate Total contains triclosan, which has been linked to cancer and
growth malformations in animals.
The toothpaste was approved by the FDA in 1997 - but the toxicology
summary reveals the FDA used company-backed evidence to approve it.
The documents were released earlier this year after a Freedom of
Information Act lawsuit IN 2013.
5. Report
A chemical that has been linked to cancer cell growth is being used by millions of Americans
in toothpaste every day, it has emerged.
The company behind Colgate Total insists that triclosan, which it uses to stave off gum
disease, is safe to use because the toothpaste was approved in 1997 by the Food and Drug
Administration.
But the toxicology documents used by the FDA to approve the toothpaste were only released
early this year after a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit last year - and reveal the agency
relied upon company-backed science to reach its conclusion, Bloomberg News reported.
The 35-page report reveals the FDA had concerns that triclosan could increase the risk of
cancer - but Colgate said the chemical was only problematic in large doses.
8. Colgate Total toothpaste, pictured, contains a chemical called
triclosan, which it uses to stave off gum disease - but studies have
suggested it could harm animal growth.
9. EVIDENCES
IN 2010, A STUDENT LINKED TRICLOSAN, WHICH HAS COMMONLY BEEN USED
TO REDUCE BACTERIA CONTAMINATION, TO REDUCED FERTILITY IN MICE AND
A 2013 STUDY LINKED IT TO LOWERED SPERM PRODUCTION IN RATS.
A STUDY FROM 2003 FOUND TRICLOSAN IN THE URINE OF 75 PER CENT OF
2,517 AMERICANS - INCLUDING CHILDREN - WHO WERE TESTED BY THE
CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION.
10. Despite evidence - including pages in the report showing how tests found
fetal bone malformations in mice and rats - Colgate deemed the results
irrelevant because they were conducted on animals.
'We have created a system where we are testing these chemicals out on
the human population,' scientist Thomas Zoeller told Bloomberg. 'I love
the idea they are all safe. But when we have studies on animals that
suggest otherwise, I think we're taking a huge risk.'
11. What Colgate says ???
Still, Colgate said that the 35 pages do not prove the chemical is harmful
to humans and said that its safety is proved by more than 80 clinical
studies of 19,000 people.
'In the nearly 18 years that Colgate Total has been on the market in the
U.S., there has been no signal of a safety issue from adverse-event
reports,' spokesman Thomas DiPiazza told Bloomberg.
12. “
”
'I love the idea they are all safe - but
when we have studies on animals
that suggest otherwise, I think we're
taking a huge risk'
Dr Thomas Zoeller
13. Drug regulators are now reviewing the dangers of the chemical, but they
will only re-visit the approval of Total if they find a great enough reason
to.
In a sign of the concern over the chemical, Minnesota lawmakers banned
the chemical in May. Avon and Johnson & Johnson have also announced
plans to cut the chemical from its products.
