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BEIJING (AP) China is crafting new safety rules for oral care products, state media reported Wednesday, apparently propelled by international alarm over toothpaste producers’ use of a potentially toxic chemical found in antifreeze.

Numerous countries have stopped imports of Chinese-made toothpaste in recent months for containing diethylene glycol, or DEG, which is also used as a low-cost Д and sometimes deadly Д substitute for glycerin, a sweetener in many drugs.

A set of “strict certification and evaluation procedures” are being drawn up by China’s Health Ministry and the China Certification and Accreditation Administration, the China News Service said, citing an announcement made during a national symposium. No other details were given.

Last month, the Health Ministry’s spokesman, Mao Qun’an, said at least two new regulations were being considered focusing on certification and inspection standards.

The administration’s website said the new rules would “improve the quality, safety and hygiene of oral health care products.”

A spokeswoman from the administration, which overseas certification of Chinese products, confirmed the regulations were being drawn up and said the administration had asked for public opinions last year. Like many Chinese bureaucrats, she declined to give her name and asked that additional questions be faxed.

Worries over the safety of Chinese exports began earlier this year when the deaths of dogs and cats in North America were linked to pet food containing Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine.

Since then, U.S. authorities have also banned or turned away a long list of Chinese products, including toxic fish, juice containing unsafe color additives and popular toy trains decorated with lead paint. Those actions have awakened fears that China’s chronic domestic product safety problems were now becoming a global scourge.

Countries in North and South America, as well as Asia, have banned Chinese-made toothpaste because of its DEG content, although there have been no reports of health problems stemming from the product.

Chinese officials have said tests carried out in 2000 by Chinese experts proved that toothpaste containing less than 15.6% DEG was harmless.

Other major buyers such as Japan and the European Union have pushed Beijing to improve inspections as its goods make their way through global markets.

Chinese authorities have vowed stronger safety measures while highlighting problems with imports from other countries.

China’s food safety watchdog said Tuesday that 19.1% Д about one-fifth Д of products made for domestic consumption were found to be substandard in the first half of 2007. Canned and preserved fruit and dried fish were the most problematic, primarily because of excessive bacteria and additives, the agency said.

Though the survey covered many different products, it focused on food, common consumer goods, farming machinery and fertilizers.

In a related development, China’s Ministry of Health announced Wednesday a recall of two brands of diapers made by manufacturers in north China’s Hebei province and south China’s Fujian province. It did not say if the diapers had been exported but said the brands were popular in rural areas.

A spot check of rural shopping centers revealed that batches of infant diapers sold under the brand names Haobeir and Jinglianbangshuang contained excessive amounts of fungus, a statement posted to the central government’s official website said. It did not say how much over the limit the diapers were or whether they had caused any children to become ill.

Meanwhile, the state-run China Daily newspaper, said Wednesday that Chinese food exports were at times rejected merely because China’s standards were lower than those of importing countries.

“This is not because the food itself was of low quality but because the standards we use may be lower,” the paper said in an editorial. “It is becoming increasingly urgent to raise the food safety standards to international levels.”

A top quality official also defended the safety of exported food.

“Ninety-nine percent of food exported to the United States was up to safety standards over the past two years, which is a very high percentage,” Li Yuanping, who is in charge of imported and exported food safety, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.

Most recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it would detain Chinese catfish, basa and dace, as well as shrimp and eel after repeated testing turned up contamination with drugs that have not been approved in America for use in farmed seafood.

In response, China’s quality administration issued a number of new measures designed to ensure the quality of exported farmed seafood, telling its local bureaus to “fully understand the side effects and major loss of the U.S. decision to the Chinese seafood industry.”

In addition to stepped-up inspections and quarantine, the agency said it would post on its website the names of companies that violate regulations and ban them from export activities for two years.

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A chemical found in Teflon non-stick coatings could raise the risk of allergies, researchers have said.

The scientists claim the product may prime the immune system to overreact to allergy triggers, or allergens, such as dust mites or animal hair.

Lab mice given the chemical - perfluoro-octanoic acid - before being exposed to an allergen suffered more trouble breathing than those exposed to the allergen alone.

The results suggest a possible explanation for the rising incidence of childhood asthma.

The acid is also used to make all weather clothing and stain-resistant fabrics and carpets.

The researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in West Virginia examined the immune responses of mice subjected to an allergen. They found that those exposed to the acid first were more likely to have a reaction.

The doses of the chemical given to the mice were considerably higher, however, than the levels humans are likely to be exposed to.

More….

- The deadly toxins from non-stick frying pans

Perfluoro-octanoic acid has become so widespread over the years that almost everyone has it in their body, including newborns.

Although the concentrations in human blood are relatively low there are fears about the potential health effects. The acid can contribute to thyroid problems, immune changes and testicular, liver and pancreatic cancer in laboratory animals.

Dr Robert Rickard - of U.S. chemicals firm DuPont, which makes Teflon - said perfluoro-octanoic acid was unlikely to cause allergy-related problems in humans.

He admitted however that no studies had previously looked at the issue. DuPont has found very small amounts of the chemical in treated carpets and upholstery.

Heat-resistant Teflon was discovered by accident by DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett in 1938.

In 1960 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved it for use in cookware.

When it is heated to exceptionally high temperatures the coating can break down and release perfluoro-octanoic acids.

In 2004, the company agreed an out-of-court settlement in a lawsuit brought by about 50,000 residents who lived near its West Virginia plant.

They claimed the company had contaminated their water supplies with the acid.

They alleged the chemical was linked to birth defects and other health hazards. DuPont did not accept liability and has maintained that perfluoro-octanoic acid does not pose a danger to the public.

An estimated one in eight children suffers from asthma while one in five people are diagnosed with the condition at some stage in their lives.

Significant risk factors include obesity, genetic inheritance, smoking, low birth weight, air pollution and allergens such as exhaust particles, smoke and household dust mites.

The West Virginia research was published in the journal Toxicological Sciences. Share this article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/dmstandard/article.html?in_article_id=431610&in_page_id=1766

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A television advertisement for a heart stent that promotes the products potential benefits but seems to play down the medical risks may deceive the public and should be reviewed by federal regulators, according to a commentary in The New England Journal ofMedicine.

The 60-second ad for the Cypher stent, made by the Cordis subsidiary of Johnson Johnson, fails to warn consumers adequately about the potential dangers of receiving a stent, two cardiologists argued in the essay, to appear in next Thursdays issue but already availableonline.

Stents are metal mesh devices that are used to prop open arteries after they have been cleared of blockages. The ad uses the tag line “life wideopen.”

“We believe that the FDA should perform a critical post-release review of the Life Wide Open campaign to assess whether it meets the basic regulatory requirements for non-deceptive advertising,” the commentarysaid.

It also questioned the validity of advertising such high-risk procedures directly to thepublic.

Cordis defended the ad in a written statement, saying its content and message was reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before it began running last Thanksgiving Day, a major U.S. holiday, during a national broadcast of a National Football Leaguegame.

“The goal of the Life Wide Open campaign is to foster an informed, balanced conversation between patients and physicians about treatment options for coronary artery disease, which kills millions of Americans each year,” the statementsaid.

A spokesman for Cordis, Christopher Allman, said the television ad was no longer running across the entire United States but was being broadcast in Baltimore. Allman would not explain why the ad was running in one localmarket.

The commentary by the two cardiologists, Dr. William Boden of the medical school at the State University of New York at Buffalo and Dr. George Diamond of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, comes as pressure mounts on the Food and Drug Administration to limit consumer medical advertising or at least to increase oversight ofit.

The United States is one of the few industrialized countries that permit such advertising. On Friday, a committee that advises the Food and Drug Administration plans to discuss whether television ads for prescription drugs should include a statement encouraging consumers to report negative side effects to a toll-free number operated by the agency. That is currently required for print prescription drug ads. There is no such requirement for ads for medical devices, which are not as closely monitored as drugads.

The trade group representing pharmaceutical companies, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said it had not taken a position on theproposal.

During a congressional hearing last week on drug advertising, the chairman of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, Representative John Dingell, pressed several drug company representatives on whether they would support encouraging television viewers to call the 1-800 number to report adverseevents.

“They said they couldnt tell us, so were communicating with the CEOs of the companies,” Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, said in a telephone interview. He said he supported the requirement. “But understand one thing,” he said. “It might not beenough.”

He said the committee had found systemic violations of advertising requirements by drug companies. “Some ads appear to be misleading, and others appear to be downright deceptive,” Dingellsaid.

The chairman of the House subcommittee investigating drug advertising, Representative Bart Stupak, another Michigan Democrat, said Congress should consider banning drug ads aimed directly atconsumers.

Although the Food and Drug Administration does not scrutinize advertising for medical devices as closely as it does for prescription drugs, it does regulate ads for medical devices, including stents, that it considers highrisk.

For several years, the agency has been reviewing guidelines for advertising medical devices proposed in 2004. Karen Riley, a spokeswoman, said the agency would have no comment on the call for a review of the Cypher stentads.

The Cypher ad, which says that “when your arteries narrow, so does your life,” was the first to market a stent directly to consumers on television. Similar ad campaigns, however, have promoted hip and knee implants, include one featuring the golfer Jack Nicklaus, who underwent a hip replacement in 1999 using a device made byStryker.

In 2007, ad spending for medical devices was $200 million, according to TNS Media Intelligence, an advertising researchfirm.

Boden, one author of the commentary, said in a telephone interview that it was impossible to inform viewers adequately about the benefits and side effects of a stent operation in a 60-secondspot.

“This involves very sophisticated technology, totally in my view beyond what any sophisticated lay consumer could possible learn from a 30-to-60-second television ad,” he said, pointing out that print ads require more detailed disclosure aboutrisks.

The earthquake in the Sichuan Province of China on Monday was a result of a continuing collision between India andAsia.

India, once a giant island before crashing into the underside of Asia about 40 million to 50 million years ago, continues to slide north at a geologically quick pace of two inches a year. The tectonic stresses push up the Himalaya Mountains and generate scores of earthquakes from Afghanistan toChina.

In the eastern part of the region where Asia and India collide, the Tibetan plateau is pushing southeast against the flat Sichuan basin. “Its definitely a seismic area,” said Julie Martinez, a geophysicist with the United States Geological Surveys National Earthquake Information Center in Boulder,Colorado.

On Monday afternoon, an upward thrust fault broke, generating an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.9 . An aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 followed 15 minutes later, and smaller aftershocks continue in thearea.

The epicenter lay in the Longmen Shan, mountains that rise steeply to the west of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan. B. Clark Burchfiel, a professor of geology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who performed research in the area, said that section of the Longmen Shan fault would not have been expected to generate an earthquake of thatmagnitude.

“Its active, but I wouldnt have put an earthquake that big on it,” hesaid.

However, much of the visible tectonic history along the fault has been obliterated by landslides, and the earthquake on Monday may have occurred along a previously unknown fault, hesaid.

BEIJING (AP) China played down international concerns about tainted food exports on Tuesday, saying the problems were not as bad as reported and displaying seized counterfeit products to show authorities were enforcing safety protections.

To make its case, the government organized a rare visit by more than 100 foreign and domestic reporters to a food safety lab and storehouse where bogus goods from chewing gum to soy sauce were stacked on shelves and arrayed in rows.

“Yes, there are now some problems of food safety of Chinese products. However, they are not serious. We should not exaggerate those problems,” Li Dongsheng, vice minister for the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, told reporters at the lab. China has developed “very good, very complete methods” to regulate product safety, Li said.

China’s poor safety record has increasingly come under scrutiny as its goods make their way to global markets. Major buyers such as the United States, Japan, and the European Union have pushed for Beijing to improve inspections.

The pressure has increased in recent months as U.S. inspectors have banned or turned away Chinese exports including wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine, blamed for dog and cat deaths in North America. Monkfish containing life-threatening levels of pufferfish toxins, drug-laced frozen eel and juice made with unsafe color additives have also been on the growing list of unacceptable products.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has also stopped all imports of Chinese toothpaste to test for a deadly chemical reportedly found in tubes sold in Australia, the Dominican Republic and Panama.

In response, China has gone on the offensive. In the past week, the country has highlighted at least four American products as unsafe or not up to Chinese safety standards.

But at the same time, safety officials have urged better surveillance at all levels and promised to set up a food recall system, the country’s first, by year end.

“We are very concerned about food safety in China and very concerned about protecting the rights of consumers,” Li said. “But we do not want to cause panic among the people.”

Li, whose agency oversees domestic product quality, insisted China was taking the issue seriously.

“There is now largely no problem with food safety. It is an issue the people care about greatly,” Li said. “So if there is a small problem, it becomes a big problem for us. So basically for now we can guarantee food safety.”

At the Beijing food lab, technicians wearing white coats tested packages of spring rolls, dumplings and other frozen foods for toxic chemicals. Others sat at computers analyzing results.

In another room, a variety of fake products were displayed including Wrigley’s chewing gum, Shiseido skin care products and Levi’s jeans.

China has long been the world’s leading source of fake medicines and drugs, illegally copied music, movies, designer clothes and other goods. U.S. officials say its exports cost legitimate producers worldwide up to $50 billion a year in lost potential sales.

Li said government food safety procedures include a hotline set up in 1999 that has grown into a surveillance network of local groups and government bodies.

Local industry and commerce authorities have conducted widespread inspections of department stores, supermarkets, outdoor markets and wholesale markets, the State Council, China’s Cabinet, said in a statement.

It said 4.6 million inquires, complaints and reports were received last year from consumers and 16,000 tons of unsafe food products were ordered withdrawn from the market in 2006. It did not give details of the products or why they were withdrawn.

The statement said the surveillance network has also expanded to focus on consumer protection, trademark protection, food safety supervision and advertising regulations.