Chairman Mao was notorious for black, rotten teeth. But no one imagined that China's disdain for dental care would lead them to produce a toothpaste that contained diethylene glycol, an industrial solvent more commonly found in anti-freeze, writes David Eimer.
Last week, however, three companies recalled millions of travel toothpaste sets after they were found to contain more than 6 per cent of the chemical.
The toxic toothpaste is the latest in a long list of Chinese-made products that have been deemed harmful or faulty in recent weeks.
China might be the world's factory, but more and more countries are questioning whether its economy is booming at the expense of their citizens' health, as indeed are the Chinese themselves.
Faced with an increasing number of bans and restrictions on Chinese-made goods around the world, Beijing is coming under pressure to improve the safety and quality of its products.
Pet food containing the industrial chemical melamine caused kidney failure in thousands of dogs and cats in the US in March. Defective truck tyres, contaminated seafood, Thomas the Tank Engine train sets covered in lead paint and toys with small parts that can choke children have all been recalled or banned in the last month.
The problem is made worse by the number of fake and counterfeit goods that clog the Chinese market. Earlier this week, a welder in the northwestern Gansu province died after a counterfeit mobile phone battery exploded.
The government's response to the scandals has been typically ruthless. On Friday, an official at the state food and drug administration (SFDA), Cao Wenzhuang, was given a suspended death sentence for taking bribes and dereliction of duty. The former head of the SFDA, Zheng Xiaoyu, was sentenced to death in May for approving sub-standard drugs that subsequently killed 10 people.
The sentences are being seen as an attempt to show that China is serious about improving the safety record of its food and drug industries.
