Spain pulls more contaminated toothpaste: ministry

MADRID (AFP) - Spanish officials rushed to pull hundreds of thousands of falsely labelled toothpaste from shops nationwide yesterday after a government lab found traces of a toxic substance normally used in antifreeze.

More than 693,000 units had been withdrawn nationwide amid a growing scare over illegal imports, particularly from China, said the Federation of Consumers in Action (FACUA).

Health ministry labs had so far only tested some 300 samples, but they had turned up evidence of diethylene glycol -- a substance also used in antifreeze.

"This has come as a scare to 45 million Spaniards. They are alarmed," said Angeles Heras, director of consumer affairs at the health ministry.

A spokesman for the National Consumer Institute (INC), part of the ministry of health, told AFP: "I cannot confirm where all the units concerned come from, but certainly all are from outside the European Union."

He could not say if all the supplies involved were Chinese-made, but did confirm a report by the FACUA association of consumer groups that hundreds of thousands of units had been withdrawn across the country.

The alerts covered the southeastern region of Murcia; the central northern region of Castilla-La Mancha; Catalonia in the east; Andalusia in the south; and smaller amounts in the Balearic Islands and across the north.

"Of course we are in contact with our counterparts in Brussels," he added. In recent days, he said, the health scare had also hit other countries, including the United States and Italy.

Last week EU authorities ordered that two Chinese-made toothpaste brands be pulled from the market because of fears they might be contaminated.

The European Commission said it had alerted other EU members that Madrid was withdrawing Spearmint and Trileaf Spearmint brands after finding a substance in them that is also used in antifreeze and as a solvent.