CONSUMER FORUM
I READ your article on antibacterial soap and body washes with much interest. But why exactly are we brushing our teeth with Colgate Total toothpaste, which contains triclosan? After all, this toxic substance is absorbed far more rapidly through the mouth mucosa, in the case of toothpaste, than it would be through the skin, in the case of the soaps!
Albeit that triclosan is effective in preventing gingivitis, why have the toothpastes not been banned as well? I have been using Colgate Total toothpaste for many years now; why exactly was I, along with the unsuspecting consumers out there in their thousands, not adequately warned about the potential dangers? Colgate Palmolive clearly knew about the potential risks, but conveniently chose not to pass on this vital information. I am not saying triclosan is definitely dangerous in toothpastes, but it may well be. I communicated with the company by e-mail and received no response. —
Colgate Total toothpaste is formulated with 0.3% of triclosan to fight harmful plaque germs. Colgate Total is our only toothpaste variant that contains triclosan. Consumers can be confident in the efficacy and safety of Colgate Total, which is supported by more than 90 clinical studies, involving over 20 000 people, and a broad set of safety evaluations. Our research has been shared with regulatory agencies around the world who have accepted triclosan’s safe and effective use in toothpaste. Our toothpaste was approved through the US Food and Drug Administration’s new drug application process . . . new FDA rules on [triclosan in] soap had no impact on the approval of Colgate Total. I WAS very interested in your article about antibacterial soaps. I am 74 and was brought up by a doctor father who always said “a little bit of dirt never hurt anyone”. I have two brothers who now live in the US. They are 79 and 77 and both, like me, never had any allergies or major illnesses. My daughter is a teacher’s aid in Brisbane at a school for children with special needs. She was giving them a simple cookery class and made a toasted cheese sandwich. Not one of the 15 children would eat it as they all had “allergies”. We enjoy your articles. — REGARDING your reader Neil van der Riet not receiving his e-mailed Telkom account: I thought I was the only one. They haven’t even admitted to me that they are experiencing problems. Have they decided to only send them (or those under a certain amount) if the user complains? And why isn’t it available in the same printable format on their website? They can’t or won’t tell me. — We apologise for the frustration. We have experienced some problems with the e-mailing of accounts. An investigation has shown some of the problems are directly within Telkom’s control, while others are being taken up with various internet service providers and with the customers directly. We have identified faults relating to e-mail verification and the use of PDF attachments. We have implemented a solution to the e-billing system and are confident this will resolve those two matters. In addition to our internal e-billing concerns, we believe some of the “rejected” accounts could also be related to our domain not being registered with some customers and ISPs, or be the result of spam settings. Our IT team are collating a log of such faults so that we can identify the root cause and assist the affected parties directly.