A woman is suing the retailer and importer behind the counterfeit Colgate-Palmolive toothpaste she purchased, which she claims gave her gastroenteritis, according to a report by Securing Industry.
Margaret Pellon also named Colgate-Palmolive in the $2 million suit, but the move was blocked by New York State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Maltese when the company demonstrated that it was not responsible for the toothpaste in question.
A dollar store in Port Richmond and importer MS USA Trading of New Jersey are named in the suit, which alleges that the use of the toothpaste put Pellon in the hospital for four days.
Packaging inconsistencies, including the wrong font and closure, and the presence of diethylene glycol (DEG), a toxic food additive, confirmed the illegitimacy of the product, a Colgate-Palmolive spokesman noted.
Previous cases of counterfeit toothpaste traced to China have contained both DEG and potentially dangerous microorganisms. DEG was blamed for the deaths of 84 Nigerian children in 2008 after they used toothpaste where it was substituted for glycerine. And in August 2008, two New York companies and two New York City residents pleaded guilty to importing tons of counterfeit Colgate toothpaste with poisonous ingredients.
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