But how will I get that peanut butter flavor out of my mouth?

@Optimistic Prime:

Find some Chinese catfish to chew on.

'The FDA has devised a simple test to evaluate the safety of your toothpaste: if it says "Made in China," throw it out.'

Hey...too bad we can't apply that to everything

"If it says Made in China, throw it out!"

It's crap like this that make me seriously consider going completely organic, buying only from small-scale farms and producers. Tom's of Maine, before they got bought, would have been great. Anyone know if they're still okay as part of whatever conglomerate they're in now? Or it there's anyone else out there like them?

Also, I learned a long time ago that the cost of cheap Chinese goods is often not worth it in the long run if it means throwing them out and replacing them often. I first experienced this with something as silly as drill bits. The imports were consistently lousy and would get damaged with every over-tightened screw I'd come up with, but the American made ones would last through anything.

It often -- not always, but more often these days -- seems to come down to this: you get what you pay for.

@catnapped:

Why can't we do this?

@Antediluvian:

I have to agree. I don't understand why people flock to Wal-Marts and buy their cheap Chinese electronics, only to keep replacing them every 6 months and filling landfills with their faulty electronics. Spend a little more and buy a quality piece of electronics that will last years instead of months. Same goes for tools. I prefer to have something that I know will last through a job instead of having it break, smash my knuckles, put me through a cursing fit and then have to go to the store to replace it in the middle of a job.

so let me get this straight. this crap gets forcefed to us via manufacturers that are trying to undercut a market (sometimes at the behest of retailers that are dictating price points). occasionally, a largely disproportionate portion of the market is affected (such as in pet food) so that we might not even have an alternative to the tainted goods.

& the best the gov't can come up with is "throw it out"?

not good enough. last time i checked, i paid for that tainted item. the company it came from received compensation for violating government standards. i want reimbursement. i want people to go to jail. & i want the government to start doing the job we're paying them for or i want my goddamn tax money back.

seriously. how much is it costing us to staff the fda these days? a few hundred million? a few billion maybe? screw that. how much does a rubber stamp cost these days - $10?

@Antediluvian:

Why not just skip the middleman and make your own, if corporate responsibility is a big concern.

1 cup baking soda
1/3 cup salt
3 teaspoons glycerin
Flavoring for taste (wintergreen or peppermint oil)

Mix baking soda and salt together. Add 3 teaspoons of glycerin and mix thoroughly. Add flavoring to taste; five to 10 drops usually works, but find out what is best for you. Put paste into a squeeze bottle. Use as you would commercial toothpaste.

You can add a drop of food coloring to add a little color. Add a little more glycerin for thicker toothpaste.

Wow, even I'm not that cheap. Even I'll spring for the 99 cent tube of Pepsodent.

But hey, I see an opportunity here for the makers of Cooldent.

New and Improved Cooldent..now with 50% less poison!

What the hell kind of name is "ShiR Fresh Mint"? Can someone call the home office in Shenyang and tell us what that extra R is for?

The analogies between China and Wal-Mart (in kind, not degree) are so overwhelming that I'm speechless.

@nightbird: I use the same formula, but without the salt. Also, some people add a little saccharin for sweetness.

Maybe it's just me being a spelling elitist, but I wouldn't buy toothpaste if the manufacturer can't spell "fluoride" correctly on the package.

Flouride?... Is that Chinese for "antifreeze"?

You shouldn't buy imported toothpaste to begin with. Other countries don't fluoridate their water, so they use alot more in their toothpaste. Which means that using our water, we could get too much.

@timmus:

It's a typo. It was supposed to be ShiT Fresh Mint.

In all honesty, do people REALLY buy knock off brand toothpaste?!

Antediluvian: If you've got a Trader Joe's near you, get some of their natural toothpaste. I was using Tom's for a while before I tried Joe's. Joe's is:

1. saccharin free (why the hell people need toothpaste to taste sweet is beyond me)
2. propylene glycol free
3. sodium laurel sulfate free (Tom's isn't - it's canker sore paradise!)
4. better tasting - just fresh and clean without being sweet.

Oh and,

5. Contains fluoride (I know some question fluoride in a 'natural' toothpaste, but I prefer my swiss cheese holey, not my teeth).

Not all tap water in the US contain fluoride, either, so having it in toothpaste does not necessarily lead to overdose. The proportion in regular toothpastes is probably not enough to cause that even with fluoridated water. You can get much more highly fluoridated prescription toothpaste, and they say nothing about conflicts with water supply, that I recall.

@Scazza: I know, that`s what I was wondering...

But damn.... it's so cheap....

Are you sure I can't use it?

Has anyone used the poison toothpaste on their pets yet?

@fhic:

If you were as elite as you thought, you'd realise both spellings are correct.

But don't both necessarily mean the same thing :P So who knows what's in there.

@Onouris: perhaps they're both correct in your dictionary.... but maybe you shouldn't have bought that dictionary printed in China. :-)

"Dr. Cool?" All these supposed toothpaste names would make most excellent names for funk groups. Or, you know, pimps.

Wonder why the poisoned Chinese toothpaste, whose label is meant to look like Colgate, is being sold in places with huge Latino populations, many of whom don't speak English? This stuff is deliberate, folks.