Health Canada probes suspect toothpaste

Consumers are being urged to check the packaging on toothpaste after a tube of what is suspected to be a counterfeit Colgateproduct was found in Guelph, Ont.

Health Canada officials said Tuesday theyare investigatingwhether the toothpasteisthesame asfake productsdiscovered infour U.S. states last week.

The owner of a Guelph dollar store cleared his shelves of the toothpaste and sent it to the federal agency for testing.

"We've received the tubes of toothpaste and we're going to run some tests in our labs starting today[Tuesday],and this could take a few days," agency spokesman Paul Duchesne said.

"We're trying to track how the product got to that store, but first of all we need to evaluate whether the product is in contravention of the regulations as a first step. Once we find out if it is, then we'll work back, we'll try to find out where it came from and go from there."

Duchesne said consumers should check products for an eight-digit drug identification number, a natural product number or a homeopathic medicine number. These numbers indicate that Health Canada has assessed the products for safety, effectiveness and quality, Duchesne said.

Last week, the Colgate-Palmolive company said counterfeit toothpaste had been discovered in discount stores in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The company said the phoney toothpaste, imported from South Africa, may contain diethylene glycol, a chemical found in antifreeze.

The FDA issued a release urging consumers to be on the lookout for 100-ml tubes of toothpaste with packaging that reads "Manufactured in South Africa." Other misspelled words on the package include: "isclinically,""SOUTH AFRLCA" and "South African Dental Assoxiation."