I hate to keep hammering away at this, but until Chinese companies stop trying to poison the rest of the world, the NY Times and Logipundit are going to keep talking about it. Turns out toothpaste made in China is more fit for unfriendly neighborhood dogs than for kids, but that doesn’t stop Chinese companies from marketing their toxic toothpaste for children.

Panamanian authorities said they believed the tainted toothpaste found in their country, containing up to 4.6 percent diethylene glycol, came from China.

Executives from both companies under investigation in China denied in interviews on Monday that they had exported any toothpaste containing diethylene glycol to Panama.

“We didn’t do this; we didn’t make the bad stuff,” said Shi Lei, a manager at Danyang City Success. “It was probably someone else.“

But Ms. Shi and other toothpaste makers in this region said that diethylene glycol had been used in toothpaste in China for years and that producers believed it was not very harmful.

Government investigators arrived here just days after customs officials in Panama said that they had discovered diethylene glycol in 6,000 tubes of toothpaste. The toothpaste was being sold under the English brand names Mr. Cool and Excel.

There have been no reports of deaths tied to toothpaste containing the chemical.

Dr. Douglas Throckmorton, deputy director for the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the F.D.A., said diethylene glycol levels found in some Panamanian toothpaste was nearly 50 times greater than what is deemed safe. “Kids swallow toothpaste,” Dr. Throckmorton said. “That is going to be a concern to you.”

So I don’t have time to explain but gosh look at this story.

Chinese diethylene glycerol (a component of anti-freeze) is finding it’s way in medicine all across the world, sometimes with the help of western firms. Next time you hear complaints about “big” drug companies, consider the cost of cutting corners.