The Grocery Shrink Ray is what happens when a company wants to cut their expenses, but not raise their prices. Pepsodent is a bargain-brand toothpaste that you can pick up in most stores for $1, but reader Tony noticed something when he bought his last tube: it was half an ounce smaller than the previous one, which he still had handy. [More]
toothpaste
Procter & Gamble Removes Microbeads From Toothpastes, Still Insists They’re Safe
By 9.19.14
Microbeads are little plastic beads that appear in face washes, toothpastes, and other personal-care items. They aren’t so beautiful for America’s waterways, where the tiny beads could end up in the stomachs of the fish and fowl we like to gaze at and eat. Some lawmakers want the beads banned, but Procter & Gamble is the latest personal-care products company to dump them voluntarily. [More]
Study: Popular, Ineffective Antibacterial Chemical Found In 100% Of Pregnant Women, May Interfere With Fetal Development
By 8.13.14
That “antibacterial” hand soap sitting next to your sink? The chemical that supposedly makes it work is called triclosan, and it’s in tons of products. A new study also finds that it’s in tons of our bodies — and in the bodies of pregnant women, it might be interfering with fetal development. [More]
No, You Shouldn’t Seek Out Fluoride-Free Toothpaste
By 6.23.14
Some packages of toothpaste make a big deal out of being fluoride-free, but is that a selling point? No, experts say: while some people fear a link between the substance and cancer, that has never been proven. Even small children should use proportionately small amounts of fluoride toothpaste. [Consumer Reports] [More]
Crest’s Chocolate Mint Toothpaste Is Tasty, Overpriced, And Has No Reason To Exist
By 2.13.14
A few weeks ago, we posted about the existence of the new Crest Be(TM) line of toothpastes. This line of products includes flavors that mix chocolate and mint, vanilla and mint, and lime and mint. When the product was first announced, we declared it gross, expensive, and stupid. Now that the product has hit stores, at least one reviewer agrees with that assessment. [More]
American Dental Association To Parents: Don’t Wait, Use Fluoride Toothpaste On Baby Teeth
By 2.11.14
You might want to keep your voice down if you’re in Portland discussing this news: The American Dental Association has switched up its advice on baby tooth care. Namely, that fluoride toothpaste should be introduced as soon as that first tooth shows up, instead of waiting until kids are three. [More]
Feds Warn Airlines Heading To The Olympics Of Potential Bomb Threat From Toothpaste Tubes
By 2.6.14
Travelers should be used to not hauling ginormous quantities of liquids/gels/aerosols in their carry-ons on airplanes by now, but you might find your tube of toothpaste under extra scrutiny if you’re heading to Russia for the Olympics. Federal officials have issued a warning to U.S. and some foreign airlines to be on the lookout for toothpaste, whose containers could hold ingredients used to make a bomb on a plane. [More]
Fluoride And Fudge: Crest Introduces Chocolate To Toothpaste
By 1.28.14
Remember when Procter & Gamble cruelly taunted the Internet with the prospect of bacon-flavored mouthwash? It was all an April Fool’s Day joke, but seemed just plausible enough to be real. We wanted it to be real. Now the same company is offering another oral care product that seems too amazing and can’t possibly be real: chocolate toothpaste. [More]
Why Do Hotels Give You Free Tiny Soaps, But No Tiny Toothpastes?
By 7.9.13
Airline security regulations mean that traveling with a big tube of toothpaste in your carry-on is a distant memory. Yet, in their selection of mini toiletries, hotels give us bottles of lotion and bubble bath, but not one thing that just about everyone uses: toothpaste. Why is that? No one expects them to give us toothpaste because they don’t…because no one expects them to. [More]
Arm & Hammer Adds 33% More Peroxide, Subtracts .3 Ounces Of Toothpaste
By 10.26.12
The good news is that PeroxiCare toothpaste comes with slightly more peroxide than it did before. The bad news is that this supposed improvement comes with a .3 ounce reduction in the total amount of toothpaste in the tube. [More]
34 Uses For Toothpaste Outside Of Your Mouth
By 11.18.10
Yes, toothpaste is important for keeping your teeth clean and whole, but it also has many interesting uses around the house. Our friends at Coupon Sherpa compiled a list of 35 users for the wondergel, some of which may not have occurred to you. [More]
CVS Employee Strangles Shoplifter
By 5.10.10
A CVS employee in Chicago chased a 35-year-old shoplifter out of his store and held him in a chokehold for “several minutes” on Saturday morning until police came. The thief–who had stolen tubes of toothpaste–was taken to a hospital and initially described as in “fair-to-serious” condition, but then declared dead about 45 minutes later, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. The death is being ruled an accidental homicide, and the police aren’t going to press charges against the employee. [More]
Consumer Reports Quantifies Waste Due To Stupid Packaging
By 3.13.10
Do you squeeze every last bit of toothpaste out of the tube, and remove the spout to get every last drop of detergent out of the bottle? You’re reading Consumerist, so you very well might. But sometimes extreme measures are needed to get everything out. Our sister publication Consumer Reports noticed this, and applied some mad science to see exactly how much product people are paying for, but leaving behind. [More]
How Toothpaste Got Its Stripes
By 8.7.09
If you always assumed striped toothpaste was the work of a magic devil, assume again. It turns out it’s the work of a little extended pipe inside the tube that merges the different colored substances onto the toothpaste highway and straight onto your brush. That mechanical trick is half a century old, however; modern varieties sometimes just come that way, as this frozen toothpaste photo that’s been around for a while demonstrates.
Charges Filed Against Importers Of Toxic Toothpaste
By 3.7.08
On Tuesday, the city of Los Angeles and the FDA charged the heads of two U.S. importing companies with 14 counts each of “receiving, selling and delivering an adulterated drug,” for their roles in importing and distributing over 70,000 tubes of toothpaste containing diethylene glycol (DEG) instead of glycerin. “Each count carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.”
Man Who Discovered Tainted Toothpaste Located, Interviewed
By 10.2.07
Sometimes being a conscientious shopper really does matter. The man who realized that tubes of discount toothpaste were tainted with diethylene glycol last May has been found and interviewed by the New York Times. Eduardo Arias, a 51-year-old government worker in Panama City, was shopping in a discount store one Saturday when he saw the toothpaste—he said he could read the ingredients list clearly without even picking up a tube, and when he saw “diethylene glycol” as an ingredient, alarms went off.
Poison Toothpaste Also Found In Prisons And Mental Hospitals
By 7.11.07
We missed this AP article from June 28th but poison toothpaste isn’t just for dollar stores anymore, turns out Georgia prisons and mental hospitals bought hundreds of thousands of the tubes and distributed it to their wards.
700 Tubes Of Poison Toothpaste Seized
By 7.11.07
Over 700 tubes of poisonous counterfeit toothpaste were seized in Connecticut, according to The New York Times. The toothpaste is flavored with diethylene glycol, a sweet-tasting chemical more commonly found in anti-freeze. It can cause liver and kidney damage if swallowed.
