A study finds nicotine dental products contain nicotine
Next time you brush your teeth, be careful. Some popular toothpastes and toothpowders in India have high levels of nicotine, a known carcinogen, a study has found.
Researchers at the Delhi Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research (DIPSAR) tested 10 toothpowders and 24 toothpastes brands. They found large amounts of nicotine in 11 of these non-tobacco products.
The highest amount of nicotine at 18 milligram/gram (mg/g) was found in Colgate Herbal products while 10 mg/g of nicotine was found in Neem Tulsi brand.
S. No | Brand | Nicotine found in dental care products in 2008 (mg/g) | Nicotine found in dental care products in 2011 (mg/g) | Manufacturer |
1. | Vicco | 0.002 | 0.05 | Vicco laboratories, Goa |
2. | Alka dant manjan |
- | 1.0 | Dev Chemical Works Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi |
3. | Yunadant | nil | 1.7 | Aayam Herbal And Research, Jaipur, Rajasthan |
4. | Dabur Red | 5.75 | 0.01 | Dabur India Limited, Solan, Himachal Pradesh |
5. | Payo kil | nil | 16 | Gurukul Kangri Pharmacy, Haridwar, Uttarakhand |
6. | Colgate Herbal | nil | 18 | Colgate Palmolive India Limited, Mumbai, Maharashtra |
7. | Neem Tulsi | nil | 10 | Ayur Siddha Limited, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh |
8. | Stoline Paste | nil | 0.06 | Group pharmaceuticals limited, Kolar, Karnataka |
9. | Himalaya | nil | 0.029 | Himalaya Drug Company, Bengaluru, Karnataka |
10. | Sensoform | nil | 0.065 | Indoco Remebies Limited, Solan, Himachal Pradesh |
“Nicotine content in one cigarette is between two and three mg/g. In one of the dental care products we found the nicotine content was equivalent to that of nine cigarettes,” says Professor S S Agrawal, project director at DIPSAR.
According to the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, no non-tobacco product can contain tobacco and nicotine.
Earlier studies have found tobacco and nicotine in toothpowders. “But this is the first study that has found nicotine in toothpastes,” says P C Gupta, director, Healis Institute of Public Health, an organisation dedicated to improving public health in India and other developing countries.
In a study published in the British Medical Journal in 2004 Gupta stated that various tobacco products are used as dentrifice in India.
“Many companies take advantage of a misconception widely prevalent in India that tobacco is good for teeth,” Gupta says. The companies, therefore, package and position their products as dental care products, he adds. “A laboratory test of five samples of red tooth powder that did not declare tobacco as an ingredient found tobacco content of 9.3-248 mg/g of tooth powder,” the study stated.
“Nicotine in the toothpastes and toothpowders gets absorbed in the body when it directly comes in contact with the skin. This makes the product addictive,” Gupta notes.
"We do not use nicotine or any other tobacco substance as an ingredient in any of our products," says company spokesperson for Colgate. "We have contacted S S Agarwal to learn about the details of his research," the spokesperson adds.
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shocking news.hope some
shocking news.hope some action is taken.
I heard this story at a TV
I heard this story at a TV channel. But it didn't mentioned the brands. Reason obvious, the channel will stop getting ads of that brand. Kudos to you, you at least gave the brand names.
why you have not given any
why you have not given any details on Products like Pepsodent, Colgate fresh, close-up etc. if you are showing some statistics than you must tell which products you have not tested otherwise public will feel that those products do not contain nicotine.
Shocking is a lesser known
Shocking is a lesser known word now. Well known brands have lost their sheen.
This is simply to promote the
This is simply to promote the western and modern brands - if you see the report, they primarily target the herbal toothpastes only. What a nonsense!
If what you say is correct
If what you say is correct then the government should take action to solve this problem. Because we should completely eradicate nicotine products, which are injurious to health.
The information in this page
The information in this page is wrong. Refer the original report by the below link.
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jt/2012/237506/
The article is based on a
The article is based on a presentation made by the researchers. Our story was dated 2011 while this paper has been published in 2012. The researchers have published only a part of the data they generated. It would be incorrect to compare the two.
Is there some record of what
Is there some record of what they showed in the presentation? Then, please make it public.
And please check the latest
And please check the latest report by Consumer Voice dated October 2013, that has been uploaded on Consumer Affairs website, which simply says:
- All Herbal toothpastes are free of Nicotine!
- Herbal and Non-Herbal Toothpastes are 90 percent same, only 10 percent component variation is there.
Link:
http://tinyurl.com/njmugbh
Exact Link:
http://consumeraffairs.nic.in/consumer/writereaddata/Herbal_Toothpastes_13.pdf