Lead in Outsourced Dental Work, Melamine in Chocolate
Lead in Outsourced Dental Work, Melamine in Chocolate
Date: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 1:14 AM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1925 -- 9/29/2008 >>>>>
If the melamine in the chocolate doesn't get you, just wait until you go to
the dentist to work on those decaying teeth.
The first two links have excellent video reports.
http://www.kpho.com/health/17538891/detail.html?taf=pho
Video: Some Dental Implants May Contain Lead, Investigation Reveals
http://cbs4.com/health/dental.crowns.China.2.674549.html
Some Dental Crowns Made In China Contain Lead
http://www.10tv.com/live/contentbe/EPIC_shim.php?story=sites/10tv/content/pool/200802/1544047925.html
Foreign Dental Work Put To Test
http://www.10tv.com/live/contentbe/EPIC_shim.php?story=sites/10tv/content/pool/200802/1897412387.html
State Dental Board Takes Action After 10 Investigates Report
http://www.10tv.com/live/content/teninvestigates/stories/2008/04/23/dental_reg.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=102
Ohio Could Adopt New Dental Work Regulation
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hpxu6mAXsXTHA-bHlll5KwmbjTtQD93F1MIO0
Tainted milk crisis hits more global companies
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hpxu6mAXsXTHA-bHlll5KwmbjTtQD93F1MIO0
Tainted milk crisis hits more global companies
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10534909
Chocolate recall spreads
Cadbury has recalled 11 products from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.
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http://www.kpho.com/health/17538891/detail.html?taf=pho
KPHO.com
Related To Story
Video: Some Dental Implants May Contain Lead, Investigation Reveals
Tests: Some Dental Work May Contain Lead
POSTED: 10:02 am MST September 23, 2008
UPDATED: 4:27 pm MST September 23, 2008
PHOENIX -- Some Valley dental offices are outsourcing their dental work, and
some of the crowns and bridges made in other countries have tested positive
for lead, investigations show.
CBS investigative reporters in Columbus, Ohio, purchased 13 crowns from labs
in China, Thailand and the U.S. Ten of those crowns tested positive for lead
at levels ranging from 110 parts per million to 240 parts per million.
The American Dental Association is also conducting a study to see if lead from
foreign dental work "leeches" out.
The FDA has not established a limit for the amount of lead in dental work.
Most know that lead exposure can harm children, but it can also poison adults
through long-term exposure.
DW Dental Lab owner David Wessel said he thinks the lead in the crowns the
reporters tested came from the surface stain used to whiten the teeth.
"That's probably worse," he said. "It's on the surface. It's against your
tongue and cheeks, and your mouth absorbs -- everything into your
bloodstream."
Wessel and his technicians have been sculpting teeth for 33 years, and though
he said he has seen quality work out of China, he expressed reservations about
the outsourcing trend.
"The problem is you don't know what you're getting," he said. "You don't know
what they're putting in your mouth. No matter what they tell you there's no
way to prove it unless you can break it down and analyze it and tell you what
it's made of."
At least eight Valley dental labs are outsourcing their work. The owner of one
of the labs, who asked to remain anonymous, told 5 Investigates he makes five
trips to China each year to personally investigate the labs and suppliers he
contracts with.
He said the work he has seen is excellent.
Nevertheless, there is almost no regulation on these labs, whether they are in
the U.S. or in another country.
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http://cbs4.com/health/dental.crowns.China.2.674549.html
Mar 11, 2008 7:43 pm US/Eastern
Some Dental Crowns Made In China Contain Lead MIAMI (CBS4) ?
Officials at the American Dental Association asked federal regulatory agencies
to investigate the case of toxic levels of lead discovered in February in the
dental work of a woman in Ohio whose crown was made in China. The dental
association said it has also begun its own investigation.
In the wake of a 73-year-old Midwestern woman being sickened by
lead-tainted dental work that was outsourced to China, consumers are being
asked to inquire about the origins of their crowns, veneers, bridges and
dentures.
US researchers said that the products are often made in unregulated
laboratories and can contain high levels of lead.
I'm very, very concerned," said Adrienne Peters, a dental patient. "When I
found this out, I just asked my dentist where my crown came from, so I'm
happy it didn't come from China."
Coral Gables cosmetic dentist, Dr. Gordon Sokoloff, believes the increased
pressure on many dentists affected by what insurers are willing to pay,
find the low cost foreign attractive.
"If you have a crown done here it can cost $300 or $350, something like
that for a fine quality crown," said Sokoloff. "If you out source it to
China, the Philippines it can be $40 or $30."
Sokoloff knows the dental lab he uses manufactures all of its products here
in Miami. Owner Dayle Cornelison said his company, Miami Dental Arts, has
been approached for outsourcing in the past.
"They say its cheaper send it two us, but we haven't found a need to do
that when we are very happy with what we produce ourselves," explained
Cornelison.
Last year, toy manufacturer Mattel launched a massive product recall after
some of its products made in China were found to have high levels of lead.
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http://www.10tv.com/live/contentbe/EPIC_shim.php?story=sites/10tv/content/pool/200802/1544047925.html
Foreign Dental Work Put To Test
Feb 28 2008 7:02PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Chris Collier has been a patient of Dr. Dave Rummel for 30
years.
When it comes to teeth, Collier is more concerned about his health than his
smile.
"The reason I come here is because I know I can trust the dentist I have,"
Collier said. "I know I can get good workmanship."
SLIDESHOW: Images From Report
Rummel is one of the few dentists in central Ohio who makes his own crowns,
bridges and dentures, but most other dentists rely on outside dental labs,
10 Investigates' Lindsey Seavert reported.
The labs can be down the street or even overseas, increasingly outsourcing
work to India, Mexico and China. Chinese imports, like jewelry and toys,
have been under heavy scrutiny for the last year because of lead concerns.
The dental community is concerned that unsafe metals have reached their
industry, too.
"It's one thing if it's a toy a child plays with for 20 minutes. It's
another thing if it is somebody's mouth for a lifetime," Rummel said.
"There is an issue here."
10 Investigates obtained a letter from the National Association of Dental
Laboratories that outlined the concerns. The organization told the Food
and Drug Administration that outsourcing would increase because dental work
created overseas is cheaper.
Even more of a concern is that dental labs or mostly "mom and pop" shops
are unregulated in Ohio and 46 other states. Because of that, labs can
outsource and no one may ever know, Seavert reported.
"Currently, laboratories that are outsourcing work overseas are required to
disclose that to their dentist through existing FDA regulations but that is
where it stops," said Bennett Napier of the NADL. "That disclosure does
not have to pass on to the patient."
10 Investigates learned the deception goes one step further. Sometimes
labs don't tell dentists, leaving them to unknowingly place foreign
products in patient's mouths.
In the U.S., the materials in dental work are FDA approved. It is supposed
to be that way in foreign countries but the FDA has no way to enforce it,
Seavert reported.
The NADL said the FDA approached them first in 2004 and then in 2007,
concerned about the increasing number of imported dental devices passing
U.S. borders and acknowledged the need to better enforce dental lab
regulations.
With millions of products and not enough manpower, the work crosses borders
to places like Ravenna, Ohio. There, a 73-year-old woman hired a lawyer to
sue her dentist. It began when she received a new dental bridge last year.
The pain became so severe that she could not chew.
"She began to have some pretty significant complications and reactions and
infection that stemmed from the restoration that ultimately had to be
removed," Napier said.
The woman, who requested anonymity, told 10 Investigates that she later
discovered her bridge was made in China. Worried, she had a lab test it
for hazardous materials.
The lab determined that the porcelain filed away in her mouth contained
lead. She has since undergone two surgeries, Seavert reported.
With 300 unregulated dental labs in Ohio and an estimated 7 million crowns
coming into the country each year, 10 Investigates wondered how much a
threat lead is in outsourced dental work.
We ordered eight crowns from four labs in China that advertise in industry
magazines. With help from Rummel's lab, we received our product 10 days
later.
Only one lab identified materials in the crowns. 10 Investigates first
used a device that screens for lead. Of the eight, one crown came up
positive.
We sent our sample to a Cleveland lab - NSL Analytics - to provide
scientific proof. They specialize in testing metals and began by
separating the porcelain from the metal.
The crown is diluted in a test tube that becomes a solution chemists test
for lead. The machines give an instant reading of lead. 10 Investigates'
results came back at 210 parts per million. The Ravenna woman's bridge
measured 160 parts per million.
"We don't know what the FDA or the American Dental Association considers to
be a risk as far as lead content," said Carm D'Agostino, a chemist.
With no known research on lead in dental work, the lab can only compare to
toy standards.
Toys leaching lead over 90 parts per million are hazardous, so what about
210 parts per million in your mouth?
"I guess that tells me I need to be a little bit more concerned about other
potential sources of lead," said Dr. Marcel Casavant, who runs central
Ohio's lead program and poison control center. "I never would have guessed
somebody would have put lead into a piece or a part installed into a human
being."
Casavant said adults can live with lead poisoning for years and not know
it.
"The symptoms are what we call non-specific - a little ache or a pain -
abnormal bowel function," Casavant said.
Even high blood pressure and kidney trouble could be symptoms, according to
Casavant.
He said he would never link lead poisoning to dental work but would have to
add it to his list of questions when asking people what kind of dental work
has occurred.
The NADL said that 10 Investigates' findings prove that the FDA needs to do
more.
"It reinforces the concerns we have as an industry and concerns the FDA
expressed to us that the potential is there," Napier said.
The NADL letter asks the FDA to track dental work from foreign labs to
patient records. They want the FDA to register all labs, require them to
disclose where they get their dental work and label what materials are in
it.
The Ohio Dental Board admitted that is not sure what is happening in the
state's roughly 300 labs and has no plans to regulate them. Lili Reitz,
the director of Ohio's dental board, said the burden relies on the dentist.
"Ignorance is not a defense when you are ultimately responsible for what is
going into the mouths of the patients that you serve," Reitz said.
Rummel said that 10 Investigates' lead findings only prove outsourcing
comes with a risk.
"If a medical device is made out of a foreign country, I think the patient
should know," Rummel said.
He recommends that people ask their dentist where their work is made.
"I think you can't really get something for nothing and I think (if) we
start going down that road, we all suffer," Rummel said.
In response to our story, the Ohio Dental Board on Wednesday adopted a
recommendation to the dentists they regulate.
They are asking dentists to give labs a form that would require the labs to
disclose where their dental work is made.
On a federal level, 10 Investigates has asked the FDA for a response to our
findings for the past two months.
On Wednesday, they told us that they are reviewing our report and
developing a strategy to address our findings on all imported dental
devices.
The Ohio Dental Association said that it would require their members to
fill out the form in hopes of giving it a better idea of how many labs are
outsourcing.
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http://www.10tv.com/live/contentbe/EPIC_shim.php?story=sites/10tv/content/pool/200802/1897412387.html
State Dental Board Takes Action After 10 Investigates Report
Feb 28 2008 7:27PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio Dental Association spent Thursday fielding
questions after 10 Investigates revealed lead in outsourced dental work.
The ODA represents 5,500 of the 7,000 dentists in Ohio. They are now
asking their members to do more, 10 Investigates' Lindsey Seavert reported.
SLIDESHOW: Images From Report
"What assurances they can get that the work is being done consist with
requirements of the FDA," said Dave Oswiany of the ODA.
The action came after 10TV uncovered loopholes in federal and state laws
that allow dental labs to send work overseas and - in some cases - hide
that information from dentists and patients.
10TV ordered eight crowns from Chinese labs. One crown showed a level of
lead, Seavert reported.
To avoid a possible risk, the ODA learned that in Missouri, dentists were
asked to use a form, asking labs to reveal where the work is made.
"The questions are pretty pointed," Oswiany said. "They ask specifically -
is the work being done at the lab or is it being outsourced somewhere
else?"
If it is outsourced, the question is where is it going - to the U.S. or
overseas?
The ODA asked the Ohio State Dental Board to require the form statewide.
The board agreed and will recommend all Ohio dentists to use the form,
Seavert reported.
"This form was the one way we could immediately get the word out and make a
recommendation to dentists because the patients are at risk," said Lili
Reitz of the Ohio State Dental Board. "If the dentist doesn't have this
information, why not? It was a quick, easy way to let the dentist know
they should be aware."
10 Investigates contacted the lab that had the crown test positive for lead
and was still awaiting a response as of Thursday evening.
In response to our story, the American Dental Association said that it
would begin its own investigation, testing dental work made in the U.S. and
overseas themselves.
Stay with 10TV News and 10TV.com for continuing coverage.
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http://www.10tv.com/live/content/teninvestigates/stories/2008/04/23/dental_reg.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=102
Ohio Could Adopt New Dental Work Regulation
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 6:25 PM
Print StoryE-mail StoryCOLUMBUS, Ohio -- 10 Investigates on Wednesday
learned that state lawmakers are considering new regulations to protect
patients from lead in dental work.
The action comes after a 10 Investigates report earlier this year exposed
high levels of lead in dental work outsourced from China.
State Rep. Jay Hottinger, who has been working with the Ohio Dental
Association and the Ohio State Dental Board, said he wants to add more
regulation that would require extensive disclosure, 10 Investigates'
Lindsey Seavert reported.
"With full disclosure we believe that this is an effective remedy that we
hope can remedy the situation," Reitz. "What you brought forth a couple of
months ago -- we don't see happening again."
Under the new regulations, dental labs would be required to fill out work
order forms before making dental work, Seavert reported.
The labs would be required to list the source and location of materials
used, along with FDA registration and the lab where the dental work was
made.
A list of subcontractors would also be required if the work was outsourced
to another lab, Seavert reported.
All the information would be included in one form that would be sent to the
dentist and their patients.
The Ohio State Dental Board supported the new regulations at a meeting on
Wednesday. If passed, dentists would be required by law to use the form.
"Once it is amended it is a rule we can enforce," said board member Lili
Reitz. "If dentists don't get this information they could be responsible
for that."
The new regulation could be passed in May.
Watch 10TV News and refresh 10TV.com for continuing coverage.
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http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hpxu6mAXsXTHA-bHlll5KwmbjTtQD93F1MIO0
Tainted milk crisis hits more global companies
By ELAINE KURTENBACH -- 2 days ago
SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- Snackers, beware: Your favorite chocolate or creamy
treats might contain milk contaminated with melamine.
The list of companies facing potential recalls grew Friday as reports of
foods tainted with the industrial chemical melamine, which has been blamed
in the deaths of four Chinese infants, spread to a widening range of
products.
Food companies around the globe are rushing to assess their products and in
some cases setting new strategies to prevent problems.
"We have to think about any processed food with milk or protein in it,"
said James Rice, a food industry veteran who is now China country manager
for Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat processor.
While his company is not affected, for others "that includes biscuits, cake
mix, energy bars, anything that should have protein in it," he said.
Many food companies already were taking special precautions before Chinese
milk suppliers were found to be adding melamine to watered-down milk to
boost its apparent protein content. The chemical, which is high in
nitrogen, can fool tests aimed at verifying protein levels. The compromised
dairy products are blamed for sickening 54,000 children.
Some companies learned the need for extra diligence in China the hard way,
during a spate of scandals last year from unsafe foods and toothpaste to
melamine-laced ingredients in pet food.
But many continued to disregard the risks, said Jeremy Haft, a businessman
who runs factories in China in a variety of industries, including medical
products, clothing and building supplies.
"I don't think much was learned from the recalls of a year ago," said Haft,
who has written of his experiences in a book, "All the Tea in China."
Tokyo-headquartered Lotte Group, a major snack maker, got caught up in the
storm Friday after its popular chocolate-filled Koala cookies were recalled
in Hong Kong and Macau because of melamine contamination.
Packages of the cookies, still on sale in Shanghai, list whole milk powder
as an ingredient.
"We will look deeply into all the details of the manufacturing process,"
said Kayh Kim, manager of Lotte China Food's planning department in
Beijing. "We really don't want to lose our customers' confidence."
In Tokyo, a company spokeswoman said Lotte products sold in Japan are not
made with Chinese dairy ingredients.
Meanwhile, the Shanghai-based maker of White Rabbit, a popular
vanilla-flavored toffee, said it stopped domestic sales after the Hong Kong
government's Center for Food Safety said the candy contained more than six
times the legal limit of melamine.
That followed White Rabbit recalls in Britain, Singapore, New Zealand and
Australia.
When rumors of melamine-related recalls of Oreos and other sweets spread by
phone text messages and on the Internet earlier this week, Kraft Foods Inc.
hastened to reassure customers that none of its Oreo-brand products contain
milk powder from China.
Oreo fillings contain no milk, while Oreo cookies with icing on them use
milk powder from Australia, it said. "Regardless of where they are
produced, Kraft products are always held to the highest quality and safety
standards," the company said.
As they expand operations in China, targeting its potential market of 1.3
billion people, many foreign-brand food companies still rely heavily on
local partners for quality control, experts say.
New Zealand's dairy cooperative Fonterra discovered the implications when
its local partner, Sanlu Group Co., failed to take quick action after
Chinese doctors reported that babies drinking its infant formula were
developing kidney stones.
"The problem was that Fonterra, right from the start, had no control over
what was going on," said Bruce McLaughlin, CEO of Sinogie Consulting in
Shanghai, which conducts market research and investigations.
"The most important thing is that if you're going to make an investment and
have your name tied up with it, you have to have control over what's going
on," McLaughlin said.
For some, that may mean going it alone.
Chocolate maker Barry Callebaut, the world's leading producer of cocoa,
chocolate and confectionary products, set up its own factory west of
Shanghai earlier this year. The quality control staff report directly to
the Swiss company's CEO.
The factory is testing milk products from all local suppliers, setting
aside any from domestic sources until it is confirmed safe, said Gaby
Tschofen, the company's vice president for corporate communications.
A decision by Japanese beer maker Asahi Breweries Ltd. to set up its own
dairy farm in China is proving fortuitous: the company's milk, which went
on sale only this month, is selling fast amid the melamine scare.
Asahi Green Source Farm, a venture with fellow Japanese companies Itochu
Corp. and Sumitomo Corp., is stocked with more than 1,000 dairy cows from
Australia and New Zealand, said Chen Na, a marketing department staffer.
"We already realized the importance of the source of raw milk, since it's
easy for trouble to crop up in a booming market, and we have made every
effort to control the manufacturing process for liquid milk production,"
she said. "Better safe than sorry."
Associated Press researcher Ji Chen contributed to this report.
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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10534909
Chocolate recall spreads
4:00AM Tuesday Sep 30, 2008
Cadbury has recalled 11 products from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.
Photo / AP
Cadbury recalls Chinese chocolate
Related NZHerald links:
Melamine scare sees NZ firm suspend exports
Cadbury last night became the latest multinational company to pull products
off Asian shelves because of the Chinese melamine scare.
The British company recalled 11 chocolate products made at its Beijing
factory, which are distributed in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia. It was
not clear last night whether the products were sold in New Zealand.
Tests "cast doubt on the integrity of a range of our products manufactured
in China", Cadbury said without elaboration in a statement issued from its
office in Singapore. It did not say whether the tests revealed melamine.
Earlier, Indonesia reported high traces of melamine in Oreo wafers, M&Ms
and Snickers bars imported from China.
The country's Food and Drug Monitoring Agency said a dozen allegedly
tainted products, including those popular brands, had repeatedly tested
positive last week.
Kraft Foods and Mars said they were sticking to a recall order, but
emphasised the same products were cleared of melamine in other Asian
countries.
They were looking into explanations, including the possibility that the
goods could be counterfeit.
The companies said they would conduct their own tests.
Snickers bars and M&Ms sold in New Zealand are made in Australia.
Meanwhile, a New Zealand company that is one of the world's biggest
exporters of the hugely expensive dairy protein lactoferrin has suspended
exports in order to clarify how it was contaminated by melamine.
Tatua Co-operative Dairy Co in Morrinsville said yesterday it expected
dairy exporters were in future likely to test for melamine contamination
before releasing goods for sale.
Tatua's board will meet today and is expected to discuss the contamination.
A Chinese customer told Tatua's agent two weeks ago that melamine had been
detected in its product in China.
Further tests were done in China and New Zealand. Results on September 22
and 23 confirmed contamination at less than four parts a million.
The New Zealand Food Safety Authority inspected the factory on September
24.
Tatua chief executive Paul McGilvary said yesterday the company's own
investigation detected no melamine in its raw milk.
The other two manufacturers of lactoferrin, Fonterra and Westland, say
their products are not contaminated.
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